DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) — Gambling revenue in Deadwood set a record last year.

State Commission on Gaming figures show gross revenue of $107.4 million, up from $100.9 million in 2011 and $106.2 million in 2010.

A voter-approved smoking ban that took effect in South Dakota in November 2010 was widely blamed for the drop in revenue in 2011. Lead-Deadwood Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Chuck Turbiville tells the Rapid City Journal the report shows it’s time to stop blaming the smoking ban every time there is a dip in revenue.

Saloon owner Louie Lalonde says the smoking ban has opened the door to people who wouldn’t come gamble because of the smoking in casinos.

Deadwood Gaming Association President Tom Nelson says he’s not ready to concede that casinos have overcome the smoking ban.

        The Save the VA delegation from Hot Springs that met Monday in Washington with Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is holding a town meeting in Hot Springs next Tuesday evening to share highlights of that trip.

Tuesday’s 6:30 meeting at the Mueller Civic Center Theater will include the same presentation the group gave to Shinseki outlining Save the VA’s counter-proposal to the plan endorsed by the VA Black Hills Health Care System to close the Hot Springs VA Medical Center.

The delegation that went to Washington, South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard…who also made the trip…and the state’s congressional delegation who set up and attended the Monday meeting all said they came away from it encouraged about the chances of killing the closure plan.

Shinseki told them he hadn’t made a decision yet, would like to make one “sooner than later,” promised “due deliberation” in his considerations, and indicated he would probably be talking or meeting with backers of the Hot Springs center before making a final decision.

The VA plan would close the Hot Spring Center and replace it with an outpatient clinic and dialysis center, a new long-term treatment program in Rapid City, and expanded contracting with health care providers around the region…saying it would be cheaper and more efficient that upgrading the existing center.

The Save the VA proposal would keep the center open through a combination of cost-cutting moves, innovative Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment programs, job-training, and a national demonstration project for a commercial manufacturing venture using VA patients and others.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Supporters of keeping Veterans Affairs medical facilities open in Hot Springs have made their case directly to the agency’s head.

The state’s congressional delegation, Gov. Dennis Daugaard and representatives of the “Save the VA” group on Monday met with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington, D.C.

Save the VA spokesman Rich Gross tells the Rapid City Journal the group was encouraged that the meeting was scheduled for 45 minutes but lasted twice that long. Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune and Rep. Kristi Noem said in a statement they also were pleased with the meeting, though Shinseki made no decisions.

The VA says an economic analysis shows that restructuring its facilities in western South Dakota would be cheaper and more efficient than trying to fix aging facilities in Hot Springs.

       The U-S beef industry and political leaders are applauding Japan’s decision to ease restrictions on U.S. beef imports, saying it will be a boost to the American meat industry.

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President J.D. Alexander says it should improve profits for the industry, although he’s not sure of the short-term impact since supplies of beef have been shrinking because of the drought.

Producers hope to restore Japanese sales to where they were before the restrictions imposed after the the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States in 2003, but the tight supplies may limit how much exports can grow this year.

There are also concerns that Japan again allowing  imports of beef from cattle up to 30-months-old will lead to higher demand overall and higher beef prices for U-S consumers, but the North American Meat Association says the effect on prices is likely to be limited because many popular cuts of meat in Japan aren’t popular here.

.      The Japanese decision drew strong praise from beef state lawmakers. 3rd District Congressman Adrian Smith says it will expand export opportunities for Nebraska beef producers, and calls it “a step in the right direction to bring down long-standing barriers to U.S. beef.”

Senator Mike Johanns says it’s great news for Nebraska’s economy and cattle producers, and that while he’d prefer that all U-S trading partners fully align their policies to meet international standards, this is a significant step in the right direction…strengthening the trade relationship between the U-S and Japan.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A Rapid City dog is defying his couch-lounging ways to become a celebrated competitor in dog show circles.

Deb Davenport owns the Spinone Italiano pup Partito, whose name means “party” in Italian. Partito advanced to the final eight of his group at the annual Eukanuba National Championship dog show last month, to be televised on February 2nd. The Rapid City Journal reports that it’s the furthest a dog of the relatively new breed has progressed in such a large show.

Davenport describes her pooch as an “everyday dog” that sleeps on the couch, barks at postal workers and chases squirrels. Partito likes to hunt, too.

Partito won best-in-breed, letting him compete with others in the sporting group. A wire fox terrier from California won top honors as Best In Show.

Nearly 10,000 Nebraskans working on their GEDs in lieu of high school diplomas need to finish up by the end of this year or they’ll have to start over because the GED Testing Service will be releasing a new series of tests for the first time in a decade.

The GED, or general equivalency development certification, is earned by passing a series of five tests — reading, writing, social studies, science and math — and Vicki Bauer, director of adult education for the Nebraska Department of Education, says no test scores will carry over, so anyone who hasn’t passed all 5 tests by the end of the year will have to take them all again.

9,700 Nebraskaare currently in the process of taking the 5 tests but haven’t finished. In 2011…3,741 Nebraskans registered for the tests…2,493 took all 5…and 2,059 received their GEDs, an 83% completion rate. Nationally, more than 800,000 adults took the tests last year.

The new tests will be computer-based, rather than taken with paper and pencil, a transition that already has begun. Participants will register online beginning next year and all the tests will be computer-based…which Bauer says will give students their scores immediately on all but the literacy portion.

She also says the new test series will require more analytical skills, with writing and reading combined into one literacy test that will include a new extended-response writing assignment.

The new test series also will be aligned with the common core standards adopted by most states, although not Nebraska, and will measure participants’ career or post-secondary readiness, which the current tests do not.

South Dakota and Wyoming rank in the top 10 and Nebraska in the bottom 10 when it comes to the percentage of households with a pet.

That’s according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, which puts out its U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook every 5 years.

South Dakota ranks #3…with 65.6% of households having pets…while Wyoming is 10th at 61.8%. Nebraska, on the other hand, is 5th from the bottom at 51.3%.

The sourcebook says there are about 70-million pet dogs and 74.1-million pet cats in the country…both numbers down from 5 years ago, likely reflecting the impact of the recession. The percentage of Wyo households with pets dropped nearly 9 points.

The top pet-owning states are Vermont at 71% of households having pets and New Mexico at 67.6%. On the bottom are Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey…all under 51%. Washington, DC, is far under that…with just 21.9% of households having pets.