It’s hard to say what it means, but a mystery buyer has emerged for the East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz., a sister paper of the Gazette which was scheduled to be shut down at the end of the year.

Four local hotels and three restaurants were honored with AAA’s four-diamond ratings on Friday. The Antlers Hilton, Cheyenne Mountain Resort, the Old Town Guest House and the Cliff House earned the lodging rating. The Broadmoor’s Charles Court and Summit restaurants and the Cliff House Dining Room earned the restaurant award.

Earlier this month, The Broadmoor earned five diamonds as a lodging property and its Penrose Room won the five-diamond rating for the third time. The Broadmoor followed that up by winning its 50th Forbes (formerly Mobil) Travel Guide five-star rating and the Penrose Room earned its first five-star rating.

The area’s October unemployment rate was unchanged from September at 7.5 percent.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to decline, dropping from 7 percent in September to 6.9 percent in October. The national unemployment rate was 10.2 percent in October, up from 9.8 percent in September.

The devil is in the details with these employment numbers, though - according to the figures from the state Department of Labor and Employment, the number of working Coloradans fell by 9,600 in October, to 2,474,300. The number of people looking for work also fell, by 3,200, to 184,300.

Put those numbers together and you’ll see that what’s happening here is that more unemployed Coloradans are not looking for work: They’ve given up. Which is, I suppose, still good news if you’re job hunting (less competition is less competition), but it’s not much of a foundation to build an economic recovery on.

Likewise, the department of labor estimates that nonagricultural employment in the Colorado Springs region fell by about 800 jobs in the month, while the number of unemployed fell by 100 people, producing that unchanged unemployment rate.

A few other highlights from the monthly report:

• - government added 7,300 jobs statewide
• - education and health services added 1,900 jobs
• - leisure and hospitality lost 7,100 jobs
• - construction lost 4,800 jobs

Gaming revenue fell at Cripple Creek’s casinos in October by 4.1 percent, according to figures released Thursday by the Colorado Division of Gaming. The city’s 16 casino brought in $11.2 million in the month. In Black Hawk, by contrast, revenue rose by 15.3 percent to $45.5 million. Revenue in Central City’s casinos dipped by 1.4 percent to $5.2 million.

I had not heard about this, um, business strategy before (plus an update here). Brief version: Companies are making huge money by charging your credit card when you innocently click on a “continue” button on many popular Web commerce sites. And they keep charging your card until you make them stop. Amazing. And, so far, legal.

If that doesn’t make you want to go over your credit card statement with a microscope, I don’t know what will.

Hey, look: It’s a “best places” list with the Springs nowhere to be found. We rank on so many of those things, I figured this was kinda man-bites-dog news…

They’re rationing Eggos. It’s like the modern equivalent of the bread lines in the Depression.

Here’s a New York Times story on a proposed weatherization stimulus package. This caught my attention because, 1. I spent my lunch hour caulking some windows around the old homestead. And, 2. It would probably be a more effective environmental move than Cash for Clunkers turned out to be.

Colorado Springs sales tax collections in October had their best month since January and the smallest year-over-year percentage decline since May, 2008.

The city brought in $9.16 million in sales taxes, reflecting purchases made in September, the city’s Financial and Administrative Services Division reported Tuesday. That was down 0.82 percent from October, 2008.

Although the year-over-year number was still down, there were signs that the economic recovery may be taking root: Tax receipts from clothing stores shot up 30.5 percent, sales tax from grocery stores was up 13 percent, and department store sales rose 8 percent.

Chris Sondermann, who owns the downtown boutique Terra Verde, said she’s seen more traffic and sales since September.

“I feel like we’ve kind of come alive again,” she said. “We’ve had more traffic and our store has felt livelier.”

Fred Crowley, senior economist for the Southern Colorado Economic Forum, said the numbers are exactly what you’d expect as the region begins to emerge from the recession and consumer stop postponing purchases and start breaking out their wallets.

“These are the things that come out of it first, the essentials,” Crowley said. “At some point, everything wears out.”

Dave Bamberger of Bamberger and Associates, a local economic consulting firm, said the worst is likely behind us, although progress may be slow.

“All of the economic indicators say that we’re at the bottom and we’re on the slow path toward reovery,” he said. “We’ve got a long way to go to climb out of the hole the local economy is in.”

Revenue from the lodger’s and auto rental tax fell by 1.9 percent, the smallest decline since September, 2008. Use taxes, on manufacturing equipment, building materials and things bought outside of the Springs, fell by 25.5 percent.

So far this year, combined sales and use taxes are down 8.3 percent compared to 2008.

Wayne Heilman has the details: