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Digest

Talk of the bay

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 23, 2006

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. tampabay.com

All about money

Times personal finance editor Helen Huntley talks about money topics and answers your finance questions at blogs.tampabay.com/money.

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. THE TICKER

MADONNA FINALLY HITS THE BIG TIME: HSN

While trying to transform her image this time to something more like "save the world," the onetime Material Girl makes her debut this weekend on HSN. Madonna will donate a percentage of the profits from the first TV shopping sale of her children's book series The English Roses to an orphan-care charity in Malawi. The pop singer recently adopted a baby boy from the African nation and spirited him out of the country before opponents could challenge the move in court. Madonna's already-taped appearance on the St. Petersburg network will air periodically Friday through Sunday.

Labor stats say, 'Nice job, Florida'

Yes, we still have jobs galore. Florida placed fifth in job creation in October, adding 6,100 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week. Fifth place is no shame, but we'd also like to note that our state placed first in job creation over the year. Florida has added 219,300 jobs since October 2005. Only Texas, with 215,300 jobs, came close to our record. (California was a distant third, with 163,800.) Florida's unemployment rate was 3.1 percent in October, down from 3.2 percent in September and 3.5 percent a year ago. The national unemployment rate is 4.4 percent. Manufacturing was the only industry in Florida to lose jobs over the year, and the loss was negligible: about half a percentage point. For those keeping score: Professional and business services jobs were up 4.8 percent and construction jobs were up 4.4 percent.

Hotel could finally have a name: HoJo

Are better times ahead for the Ashley Plaza, one of downtown Tampa's least distinguished hotels? Based on a conversation with the manager, the Downtown Tampa Partnership reported to members last week that the 14-story hotel would become a Howard Johnson Plaza. The hotel hasn't carried a brand name since 2004, when the Holiday Inn nameplate came down. But Wyndham Worldwide, which owns the HoJo brand, says it doesn't have a signed license agreement with the hotel. Officials with Ashley H.I. Development did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

[Last modified November 22, 2006, 22:28:28]