The Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release figures on the September unemployment rate and the number of jobs on payrolls at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Economists are expecting to hear that the jobless rate stayed around 9.1 percent and that there was net job growth of only about 55,000 positions.

We'll update this post with highlights from the report shortly after its release. So check back or hit your "refresh" button to see our updates.

Editor's Note: This story comes from David Chanatry from the NY Reporting Project at Utica College

On a rainy night in early September, more than 100 people packed a firehouse in the town of Dryden, near Ithaca, for yet another public meeting about hydro-fracking.  It was mostly an anti-fracking crowd, and Chip Northrup, a former oil company executive turned anti-fracking activist, was preaching to the choir.  

“You can’t depend on the kindness of Texans to repair your roads,” said Northup.

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to spread, one of its rallying cries is generating a fair amount of debate.

The protesters say they represent the "99 percent" — that is, everyone except the richest 1 percent of Americans or those who have been benefiting from the way things are going.

A first ever gay film festival is coming to Syracuse this weekend. Organizers hope this Equality Film Fest will be the first of a yearly event that can help raise money for the Q Center at AIDS Community Resources. 

The Q Center, which serves 250 teens each year, has been losing funding. Youth Services Director Marissa Rice hopes the film festival helps.

"We grew tremendously over the last 12 months," says Rice. "Then we lost 3 employees in our Youth Services division because of funding cuts. So we grew, but lost employees."

The Beak and Skiff apple farm hosts the LaFayette Apple Festival this weekend. The farm is also celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.  WRVO's Kate Percival took her 10-year-old son on a field trip to the farm, and spoke with Steve Morse about what's changed, and what's remained the same, in the past century.

NFL star Troy Polamalu is famous for his long black curls, and it's plausible he could be among the statues in Hollywood's Madame Tussauds. So when visitors sidled up for a photo with the figure in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, they got a shock. It was alive. Polamalu was shooting a commercial.

The bridge was stolen sometime between Sept. 27 and Oct. 5. Police suspect thieves dismantled it to sell as scrap metal. It was made of corrugated steel valued at about $100,000.

Good morning.

We've already posted about the top story so far today:

Nobel Peace Prize Goes To Women Striving For Peace In Liberia And Yemen

And we're getting ready for what's expected to be the other major news of the morning — the 8:30 a.m. ET announcement from the Bureau of Labor Statistics about the September unemployment rate and how many jobs were or were not added to payrolls last month.

Three women who have worked for peace and women's rights in Liberia and Yemen have been awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, it was just announced at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee and Yemeni protest leader Tawakkul Karman are being honored.

This year's Nobels come with about $1.5 million. That amount will be divided between the three laureates.

GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney travels to the Citadel in South Carolina to deliver a speech on national security Friday. The issue has traditionally been a bright line between hawks and doves, Republicans and Democrats. But even on this, the third anniversary of President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the politics are no longer clear cut.