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Friday's Afternoon Update

Florida's unemployment rate tumbles to 6.4 percent

Florida's unemployment rate fell dramatically to 6.4 percent in November, down from 6.7 percent a month ago and 8 percent a year ago. The state added a net 6,100 jobs over the month, state officials said Friday. Once again, Tampa Bay led all metros in adding 39,300 jobs year over year. More from the Tampa Bay Times and the Orlando Sentinel.


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Ray Ferrero Jr. - Florida Icon

Floridian

» The lessons I learnedas a young Marine officer I use today. No. 1 is you understand what your mission is and you’re clear about it and you adhere to it. You pick good people, and you give them responsibility to do the job. Then you let them do the job, and then you hold them accountable and don’t interfere.

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SpaceX launch contracts gave it edge to win KSC launch pad

SpaceX’s significant roster of launches under contract gave it the edge over Blue Origin to win use of a historic Kennedy Space Center launch pad, according to a NASA selection statement released today. NASA last week chose to negotiate with SpaceX to lease launch pad 39A, the launching point for the Apollo moon landings and dozens of shuttle missions. [Source: Florida Today]


Carnival posts $66 million fourth-quarter profit

Miami-based Carnival Corp. & PLC said Thursday it had better-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter, buoyed by improved cruise prices and onboard spending for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand. The results come just days after a CNN report raised questions about Carnival's vessel maintenance standards following a shipboard fire earlier this year. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]


» FRIDAY PREVIEW: Coming soon to FloridaTrend.com:

  • Floridian of the Year: Once again, our editorial staff scoured the news and took your nominations for those Floridians who had the biggest impact on the state during 2013. See whom we selected as Floridian of the Year.

» You'll find this and more first on the Daily and Afternoon Pulse e-mails.


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Sweet Success

pillars hotelTwenty years ago, when Simona Faroni and Guido Tremolini traveled from their native Italy to Florida to visit friends, they noticed an absence of gelato stores. “There are hundreds of gelato shops in our hometown,” Faroni says. “And there weren’t any here, which was surprising.” The couple saw enough opportunity that they decided to move to Destin and start a gelato business.

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