Payrolls jump as economy weathers shutdown

The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, according to data released Friday morning, defying expectations of a weak labor market in the face of the federal government shutdown. The Labor Department report showed strong hiring in industries such as retail and hospitality, manufacturing and health care. State governments added 8,000 jobs, but that was offset by declines in federal and local employment. More from Businessweek and the Washington Post.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Green Trends A program the state approved three years ago makes it easier and cheaper for consumers and businesses to pay for energy-efficiency retrofits. Why is it taking so long to get off the ground? » Read more

North American trade tops $1.7 billion in Jacksonville

Toronto and Mexico City are the largest advanced manufacturing trading partners for the Jacksonville metropolitan area in North America. Advanced manufacturing sectors include aerospace, automotive, electronics, machinery, pharmaceuticals and precision instruments. [Source: Jacksonville Business Journal]

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Florida Still A Hotbed For Income Tax Refund Fraud

Florida remains a hotbed for U.S. Income Tax refund fraud, according to reports released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) on Thursday. Miami, Florida topped the list of U.S. cities where TIGTA found potentially fraudulent tax returns that were missed by the Internal Revenue Service. [Source: Brevard Times]

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» FRIDAY PREVIEW: Coming next week to FloridaTrend.com:

• Kitchen is the mission for Florida's top chef: From promoting Florida's bounty abroad to teaching kids about healthy eating, state chef Justin Timineri has a full plate.
• Hospitality: The new Alfond Inn is a stylish $30-million addition to downtown Winter Park. But the inn is more than just a place for heads in beds.
• Business Profile: When Bob and Coni Keyes moved to Kissimmee in 1988, they opened Green Meadows Petting Farm, a 50-acre attraction similar to one they operated in Wisconsin.
• CEO Sounding Board: Trends in Florida commercial real estate

» You'll find all these stories first on the Daily and Afternoon Pulse e-mails.

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Out of the Box Fortune tellers, fraud, and the First Amendment They're in a mystical business with few guarantees, so perhaps anyone could foresee tension between psychics and the law. In two prominent examples, self-declared clairvoyants were recently convicted of big-money scams in New York and Florida, where one trial featured a romance-writing titan as a victim. But beyond those cases is a history of legal wrestling over fortune telling, free speech and fraud. Read more from the AP and Businessweek.