(NECN) - One year ago this month, Blue State Digital lost its largest client ­President Barack Obama's 2008 election campaign.

Even still the web development and strategy shop has nearly doubled its growth this year.

How are they moving past politics and is it tough with a name like Blue State?

Lisa Van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal joins us with more on this.

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Co. says it lost $1.2 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection through Sept. 30, far better than previous quarters and a sign that the auto giant is starting to turn around.

The company also says it will begin repaying $6.7 billion in U.S. government loans with a $1.2 billion payment in December. It could pay off the full amount by 2011, four years ahead of schedule.

Chief Financial Officer Ray Young cautioned that the second- and third-quarter figures don't comply with U.S. accounting standards

(NECN) - It's a lively edition of our Boston Business Editors roundtable. We focus on the business of economic forecasting and ponder predictions about how slow the economic rebound will be in New England with Frank Quaratiello, Business Editor, The Boston Herald; Shirley Leung, Business Editor, The Boston Globe; and George Donnelly, Editor of the Boston Business Journal.

(NECN) - We continue our business issue focused conversations with the candidates for US Senate. This week, Rep, Michael Capuano (D) Mass., talks health care reform, jobs creation, executive pay, financial regulation and transparency.

(NECN) - Peter Howe is on the Business Beat talking about innovation schools and education reform and the future of Hollywood East, which after an unexpected turn, could use a happy Hollywood ending.

TOKYO (AP) - Japan says its economy expanded at an annualized pace of 4.8 percent in the July-September period, posting growth for the second straight quarter.

The result announced Monday represents the biggest climb for the world's second biggest economy since 2007.

Japan's gross domestic product rose 1.2 percent from the previous three-month period. If that rate were maintained for a full year, the economy would grow 4.8 percent.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

JERUSALEM (AP) - Intel says it has no plans to close a factory in Jerusalem on Saturdays, despite violent protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews who accuse the chip maker of desecrating the Jewish Sabbath.

Intel spokesman Kobi Bachar says the factory has operated on Saturdays for more than 20 years and it will continue to do so.

About 1,500 protesters demonstrated outside the factory on Saturday. Bachar says the protests were sparked by the opening of a new facility at the site.

Ultra-Orthodox activists often protest businesses that open on

(NECN: Anya Huneke, VT) - In today's tough job market, going into the family business might seem like a popular choice for college students thinking about life after graduation.

But a business class at the University of Vermont suggests otherwise.

As a junior at the University of Vermont, David Caccavo has become an important resource for his parents.

They've successfully run their company - Olivia's Croutons - since 1991.

Making, now, 1,500 pounds of croutons a day at their New Haven, Vermont, farm.

(NECN) - In the season of H1N1, more and more people are applying hand sanitizer.

Now, two Newton, Massachusetts entrepreneurs have what they say is an all natural product, called "staSafe".

Kate Johnston Chase has the story in the Boston Globe.

(NECN: Peter Howe, Woonsocket, RI) - The jobs crisis took center stage in Rhode Island today -- the state with the nation's second highest unemployment rate.

Congressman Patrick Kennedy is looking at an area of growth in the state, in the medical and life sciences industry.