Tucson Foodie  is reporting that Casa Video has added a new opportunity for patrons – a craft beer bar.

For more than 30 years, Casa Video, located at 2905 East Speedway, has provided Tucson residents popular, classic, foreign, and obscure films. Now, the independent film rental and sales shop will offer a new element to its patrons — craft beer.

Beginning December 26, Casa Video will open its doors to the Casa Film Bar, which encompasses nearly 1,000 square feet of space within the video store. The bar will house more than 300 craft beer bottle and can selections and 20 draft taps.

The bar will feature both on and off-site sales pricing. Patrons can purchase any amount of beer to-go, whether in bottle or cans or in growlers and “crowlers,” which are 32-ounce sealable aluminum cans provided by the bar. Customers who wish to drink at the bar or in the bar area can enjoy 13 to 16-ounce drafts or bottles and cans for a $1.50 capage fee.

Given the skyrocketing craft beer industry and the video store’s loyal patronage, Casa Video owners expect to provide another opportunity for customers.

“Of course we want to please our current customer base but we also want to attract anyone who loves film and craft beer,” said Casa Film Bar co-owner Kyle Schwab. “It seems in recent years the video industry has been given a lot of bad publicity, when in all honesty it’s the best way to be able to watch almost any film you may want to.”

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Federal land control has been a particularly contentious issue in Western states for over a century, and a handful are now pushing Washington to return ownership to the states. According to the Congressional Research Service, federal agencies manage 47 percent of land in the Lower 48’s Western states, as well as 62 percent of Alaska, compared to mostly single-digit percentages in Eastern states.

An armed group occupying the headquarters of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon wants the federal government to relinquish the land to local officials so it becomes more accessible for ranching, mining and other uses.

Some state officials and others contend that state control would mean less regulation and greater freedom for ranchers, miners, recreationists and others, boosting state income.

Critics of that view say the land would be too expensive for states to maintain and would be sold off to private interests, cutting off access to the public.

Congress approved a law in 1976 saying that remaining public land would stay under federal control.

Less visible efforts to wrest control of federal lands date back more than a century in the West, where the U.S. government manages most of the land in some states.

The federal government controls about a million square miles, or about 640 million acres, according to the Congressional Research Service. Most of the land, or 609 million total acres, are managed among four agencies, all with environmental missions: the BLM, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Department of the Interior.

It owns 81 percent of Nevada, 66 percent of Utah, 62 percent of both Idaho and Alaska, and 53 percent of Oregon. The federal government also owns significant portions of California and Wyoming, at 48 percent each; Arizona, at 42 percent; Colorado, at 36 percent; New Mexico, at 35 percent; Montana, at 29 percent; and Washington state, at 28 percent.

The main reason the federal government offers for owning the large tracts is for the purpose of preservation and protection. On top of that, the lands are home to some of America’s most abundant natural resources, including oil, gas, and coal, and are essential for local economies that depend on mining, ranching, and lumber.

HOW DID THE GOVERNMENT ACQUIRE SO MUCH LAND?

As the country expanded West, the federal government sought to protect some areas, such as Yellowstone National Park in 1872, and took control in the 1900s of unclaimed areas that were generally too harsh and difficult for homesteaders to make a living.

For example, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management administers much of the sagebrush steppe of the Great Basin, which is habitat for the imperiled sage grouse but unsuitable for farming.

WHAT EFFORTS ARE STATES MAKING TO CONTROL FEDERAL LAND?

State lawmakers, notably in Utah and Idaho, have sought a legal way to take control of federal land. However, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has said the state’s constitution gave up claims to the land when Idaho joined the union.

Congress has the authority to turn over federal land to the states, but efforts to pass such a law have failed so far.

Real Estate Daily News Buzz is designed to give news snippets to readers that our (yet to be award winning) editors thought you could use to start your day. They come from various business perspectives, real estate, government, the Fed, local news, and the stock markets to save you time. Here you will find the headlines and what the news buzz of the day will be.

Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 276.09 points, or 1.6%, to close at 17,148.94. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 31.28 points, or 1.5%, to 2,012.66. The NASDAQ composite fell 104.32 points, or 2.1%, to 4,903.09.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 28 cents to close at $36.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 6 cents to close at $37.22 a barrel in London. In other energy trading in New York, wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.291 a gallon, heating oil rose a quarter of a cent to $1.126 a gallon and natural gas edged down 0.3 cent to $2.334 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Canada Pension Adds Student Housing with Joint Venture “Canada’s largest pension-fund manager made its first foray into U.S. student housing, forming a joint venture with the Scion Group LLC and Singapore’s GIC Pte. to purchase a group of properties for $1.4 billion. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and its partners acquired University House Communities Group Inc., through a subsidiary of the joint venture, from InvenTrust Properties Corp., according to a statement Monday.” (Bloomberg)

What Markets are Totally Missing about Inflation and Interest Rates “After months of media hysteria and several head fakes, the Federal Open Market Committee finally raised interest rates in December. Markets appear to be quite sanguine about this turning point in monetary policy. This is mostly because inflation has been very subdued lately and the FOMC has made assurances the pace of future increases will be gradual. In fact, the anemic performance of inflation over the last year seems to have lulled markets into a false sense of complacency around inflation risks and the threat of interest rates rising sharply.” (The Street)

U.S. Real Estate to Draw More Foreigners in 2016, Survey Says “Most foreign investors expect to put more money into U.S. property this year than they did in 2015, with New York remaining the top target market worldwide, according to a survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate. Sixty-four percent of respondents said they intend to make modest or major increases to investments in U.S. real estate this year, while 31 percent expect to maintain their holdings or reinvest sales proceeds into other U.S. assets, according to the 24th annual survey by the group, known as AFIRE.” (Bloomberg)

New Year’s Pledge: Automatic Wealth through Rental Real Estate “I love real estate. It’s not without its problems, but it’s the best way I’ve found to accumulate a good deal of wealth on a part-time basis. In the many years I’ve been actively investing in real estate, it has given me returns much better than the stock market. In fact, my average return has been between 5% and 8%, without leverage. When I use bank financing, those numbers are in the 12%-15% range. I’ve tried all sorts of real estate investing.” (Daily Wealth)

Will Macy’s Cut Any Hometown Stores? “Macy’s is taking a hard look at its real estate portfolio, including nearly 800 stores nationwide, as it seeks appease impatient shareholders concerned about sliding retail sales. The Cincinnati region’s seven Macy’s stores won’t escape scrutiny, as the Downtown-based retailer decides what 40 stores it plans to shutter in early 2016. The move, for which details could be revealed as early as this week, is part of the company’s plan to eliminate weaker performing stores and make its operation more efficient.” (Cincinnati.com)

Fannie and Freddie Give Birth to New Mortgage Bond “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are turning to crisis-era tools to reduce their exposure to mortgage losses and spark a new market for financing home buyers. Beginning in 2016, the two government-controlled housing giants will ramp up sales of a new type of security that will transfer most of the cost of defaults on all but their safest mortgages to private investors.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Icahn to buy Pep Boys for $1 billion after Bridgestone bows out “Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises LP has agreed to buy Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack for about $1 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, hours after Bridgestone Corp quit the race for the U.S. auto parts retailer. Japanese tire maker Bridgestone said on Tuesday it would not raise its latest cash bid of $17 per share to counter Icahn’s raised offer of $18.50 per share in cash.” (Reuters)

American median incomes are finally back to prerecession levels “Americans’ median incomes have recovered the ground lost since the beginning of the Great Recession — and it only took 8 years. A report released Tuesday by Sentier Research drew on Census Department data to show what a long slog it’s been.”

Commercial Property Firms Set for More Deals in New Year “The world’s largest commercial real estate-services firms cranked their mergers and acquisitions engines into high gear in 2015 and will likely keep their feet on the gas well into the new year.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Shopping Center Investors, Retailers Focus On Attracting More Consumer Spending in 2016 “With increasingly confident U.S. shoppers running up credit card debt again, retailers are hopeful that consumption of retail goods and services will continue to build in 2016. Shopping center landlords in turn are hopeful demand for physical retail space remains strong, with demand expected to outpace an escalating but still modest level of new store construction and deliveries in 2016.” (CoStar)

A Conversation With Jonathan H. Simon “Mr. Simon, 50, is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Simon Baron Development, which focuses largely on residential and mixed-use developments, particularly rentals. Among Simon Baron’s current projects is a condominium at 12 East 88th Street, a prewar building in Manhattan designed by Rosario Candela.” (The New York Times)

Rising Tide in Home Prices Could Lift Retailers Like Target “The rising tide in the U.S. housing market may be just what Target has needed, as shoppers are likely to find both a renewed sense of confidence in the U.S. economy as well as extra cash to spend at discount retailers.” (The Street)

Related Cos. in talks for 11-acre Williamsburg waterfront site “The Related Cos., developer of the Hudson Yards, is in talks to invest in an 11-acre waterfront development site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, known for the large records warehouse CitiStorage that burned down there earlier this year. Related, along with at least two partners, Midtown Equities and East End Capital, is negotiating to provide a loan to one of the owners of the site, according to sources familiar with the proposed transaction.” (Crain’s New York Business)

Hollister Soho Flagship Building Gets $120M Refi From Iron Hound, BNY Mellon “Iron Hound Management Company’s one-year-old lending arm, IH Capital, and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. funded a $120 million loan facility to refinance a six-story building—which houses the Hollister Co. flagship—at 600 Broadway in Soho, Commercial Observer can first report.” (Commercial Observer)

China’s Unprecedented Real Estate Bubble Is a Ticking Time Bomb “The second and biggest trigger I’ve been warning about is China’s unprecedented real estate bubble collapsing. Recall the Japanese at the top of their stock and real estate bubble in 1989. They were buying real estate hand-over-fist, from Pebble Beach to Rockefeller Center to London. Then, after bidding them up, they ended up selling those holdings at big losses.” (Investor Place)