NEWS IN BRIEF

— Census form to be mailed to farmers

Farmers, ranchers and other producers can expect to receive a 2012 Census of Agriculture form in the mail in early January as the U.S.

Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service updates the report, which is compiled every five years.

Last month, Gov. Mike Beebe issued a proclamation declaring January as Agriculture Census Month and encouraged producers to help the service collect statistics on a wide variety of farm related activities. The census counts the nation’s farms and ranches and the people who operate them.

“Under the current budgetary climate, I would encourage all producers who receive a 2012 Census of Agriculture form in the mail in early January 2013 to complete it on our secure website, or fill it out and return it by mail,” said Becky Cross, director of the service’s Arkansas Field Office.

Agriculture generated $8.42 billion in cash receipts in 2011 in Arkansas - ranking it 15th in the nation. The census provides information used to make decisions that will shape agriculture policies and rural development.

More information is available at www.agcensususda.gov. or by calling (800) 727-9540.

  • Glen Chase

2nd Quapaw hotel opens in Oklahoma

Downstream Casino Resort opened a second hotel in Quapaw in northwestern Oklahoma, a spokesman for the Quapaw tribe said Friday.

The 152-room Kappa Tower will employ about 100 people. The $50 million project created about 400 construction jobs and is intended to extend the tribe’s market reach beyond its 100-mile radius.

The new hotel is adjacent to Downstream’s existing 222-room hotel tower, now named Osotouy. Kappa and Osotouy are taken from the names of two early Quapaw villages in Arkansas.

Kappa includes the Nee Spa and the Lover’s Leap Bar & Lounge. It has 12 single room luxury suites, four dual-room luxury suites, two 1,500-square-foot hospitality suites and 134 standard rooms.

Three other American Indian tribes operate, or are about to open, casino-hotels along Oklahoma’s eastern border. The Eastern Shawnee of Oklahoma in September opened the Indigo Sky Casino in Wyandotte; the Cherokee Nation operates the Cherokee Casino in West Siloam Springs; and the Choctaw Nation is adding a hotel to its recently renovated casino in Pocola, near Fort Smith, that’s expected to open in May.

  • John Magsam

Arkansas Index closes at 248.81

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.36 to 248.41 Friday.

For the week, 12 stocks rose and four fell, with USA Truck climbing 9.4 percent.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 27 on 12/22/2012

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