ERIE — For gamblers at Western Pennsylvania's first slots parlor, there's a new game in town: horse racing.

Presque Isle Downs & Casino plans to open its newly built thoroughbred racetrack Saturday, with daily prize money totaling roughly $500,000, a groundbreaking synthetic track and races with top-tier horses from across the country.

MTR Gaming Group, the Chester, W.Va., company that opened the Presque Isle casino six months ago, has built five large barns — with 100 stalls each — and plans to build five more before next season.

A masters stakes race, with prize money of $400,000, is scheduled for Sept. 15 as part of the monthlong meet.

Like the casino, which has about 6,000 visitors a day, the racetrack is expected to attract fans mainly from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. The $250 million slots parlor opened Feb. 28, with 2,000 machines covering an area the size of a football field.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's student-loan agency is apparently not on sound financial footing and its leadership has failed to implement "far-reaching reforms" of its business practices, Gov. Ed Rendell said in a letter to the group's board of directors.Operating expenses at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency grew 70 percent faster than its operating revenue in the first nine months of the 2006-07 fiscal year, compared to the same period in the previous year, Rendell said.Additionally, PHEAA's operating income decreased by more than $1 million and net assets declined by $11.5 million during the same period, Rendell said, citing PHEAA's third-quarter financial report issued in March.Agency spokesman Keith New disputed Rendell's interpretation of the financial results. Among other things, he said, changes to federal rules concerning government subsidies paid to lenders cost PHEAA more than $29 million for nine months.

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell wants the Legislature to create a panel to study whether a statewide health plan for teachers would help districts save money and prevent contract talks from being hung up over insurance costs.Under Rendell's proposal, the state would also contribute money to the health plan, in addition to subsidies the state already pays to school districts.Five hundred of the state's 501 school districts would be covered by the plan, a Pittsburgh newspaper first reported Tuesday. Philadelphia would be excluded.If the study panel determines the health plan would be cost-effective, the board could establish one and gradually bring school districts into it.The Pennsylvania School Boards Association said its members spent 8.3 percent of their budgets — about $1.5 billion — on health care in 2003-04.

PITTSBURGH — The city's ethics panel asked Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to consider stricter rules governing city officials' attendance at charitable events.The Ethics Hearing Board wrote a letter in response to Ravenstahl's appearance before the panel Aug. 21 to answer questions about his participation in a celebrity golf tournament.Ravenstahl said Friday that he will consider the board's suggestions that invitations from such events be accepted only if they come from the charity, and not other "interested parties."Ravenstahl was questioned by the board after he played in the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational in June, which benefits a charitable foundation named for the former Pittsburgh Penguins hockey star. The Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which both do business with the city, paid Ravenstahl's $9,000 entrance fee.The ethics board expressed concern that such arrangements could leave the impression that an official is beholden to such businesses.