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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Former Missouri Congressman Todd Akin roughly doubled his office payroll after losing a campaign for U.S. Senate.

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Salary figures available through the online tracking site Legistorm.com show Akin paid his 14-person staff nearly $400,000 in the final quarter of 2012. That's twice as much as the $200,000 quarterly payroll that Akin averaged through the rest of the year.

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Former Akin communications director Steve Taylor said Monday that the bonus essentially was a separation package for staffers who lost their jobs because of the Republican congressman's defeat by Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

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Taylor said Akin's staff had a rough final few months. He said staffers were inundated with hateful messages by people upset by Akin's remark that women's bodies had ways of avoiding pregnancy in what Akin described as "legitimate rape."

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A monthly economic survey index for nine Midwest and Plains states jumped last month, suggesting improving economic growth for the region over the next three to six months.

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The Mid-America Business Conditions index hit 58.2 in March, compared with 53.1 in February and 53.2 in January. Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he credits the index jump to "the strongest new-orders growth in two years."

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The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida's craft brewers are pushing to legalize 64-ounce beer growlers.

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Growlers are the name given to beer containers filled right at the brewery. While the state's craft brewers can sell unlimited numbers of gallon and quart growlers, Florida is one of only three states where the half-gallon size is illegal.

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Bills have been filed in the House and Senate to legalize the containers, but a lobbyist representing beer distributors for Anheuser-Busch has successfully stalled them.

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The bills' sponsors argue that allowing the half-gallon growlers that are an industry standard will help small businesses grow, and they point out that it's silly that people can by two quarts, but not one half gallon.