Holiday spirit forecast for shoppers this year

Higher consumer confidence and a lower rate of commercial vacancies bode well for the retail industry as we head into the holiday spending season. Sales predictions are at their highest point ever in the National Retail Federation's annual survey. [Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

See also:
» Halloween to scare up $7.4B in spending, retail group says
» No coal here: Holiday forecast calls for 4% growth

---

Regulators order Duke to refund money to customers

Amid a growing political backlash, state regulators on Thursday ordered one of Florida's largest power companies to give back $54 million it collected from ratepayers to pay for a failed nuclear plant. [Source: AP]

---

Projects in Florida to win agriculture grants

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says his department will award $118 million in grants to strengthen markets for specialty crops. Vilsack was in Miami Thursday to announce the program. Specialty crops are fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, horticulture and nursery crops. [Source: AP]

---

Why your company needs a social media policy

You need a social networking policy that explicitly lays out what is and isn’t permissible for employees. Your policy should be tailored to the organization, the business objectives and — ideally — to the grades of employees within the organization. [Source: Gainesville Business Report]

---

September job cuts up for month, but down so far this year

Florida employers announced 915 job cuts in September, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said Thursday. Job cuts were up slightly during the month compared to September 2013 when there were 863, but down from 15,968 in January to September last year. [Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

---

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Warren Buffett buys auto group, boosts competition for AutoNation [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
The billionaire investor said Thursday that the Berkshire Hathaway Group he leads agreed to buy the Van Tuyl Group, billed as the country's largest privately-owned dealership group and the fifth largest dealer group nationwide.

› GTEC trying to lure more companies, developers [Gainesville Sun]
Bill Dorman hopes more startup companies will venture east of downtown when space opens up in February in the Gainesville Technology Entrepreneurship Center business incubator.

› Gordon assumes CEO post at Odyssey Marine Exploration [Tampa Bay Times]
Odyssey Marine Exploration president Mark Gordon has taken over day-to-day management of the Tampa treasure salvaging company in line with a planned transition announced in August.

› Children learn about robots at Davie studio [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
At the Kahoolal after-school studio in Davie, Sandra Contreras seeks to motivate elementary and middle school students to pursue careers in high-demand fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Go to page 2 for more stories ...

› First JU business doctorate cohorts hit the books [Jacksonville Business Journal]
Jacksonville University's Davis College of Business has chosen its first class of business executives for its Executive DBA program.

› Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik pays $150 million for Tampa Marriott Waterside [Tampa Bay Times]
Jeff Vinik has added the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina to his downtown real estate empire. The Tampa Bay Lightning owner Thursday closed on a deal to buy the hotel at 700 S Florida Ave. from HMC Hotel Development Corp.

› Key sales metric up at Olive Garden in September [AP]
Sales at Olive Garden locations open at least a year rose slightly in fiscal September, and its parent company -Darden Restaurants Inc. - now foresees second-quarter adjusted earnings at the upper end of its prior forecast.

› American Airlines launching new service from Miami to points west [Miami Herald]
American Airlines announced Thursday morning it is adding a handful of new routes from Miami International Airport to destinations in the West, Midwest and South.