MOUNT POCONO — Pennsylvania's first freestanding slots casino opened to brisk business Monday.

Hundreds of gamblers surged into Mount Airy Casino Resort as the doors were opened and began stuffing bills into some of the more than 2,500 machines. As of 6 p.m., officials said 10,000 patrons had visited the casino in the heart of the tourist-friendly Pocono Mountains.

The casino was built on the site of the Poconos' most storied resort, the Mount Airy Lodge, which had its heyday in the 1960s and '70s but fell on hard times in later years.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board gave the $412 million casino permission to open after two successful dry runs over the weekend, even as its owner, Louis DeNaples, remains a focus of a grand jury investigation.

A Dauphin County grand jury has been investigating whether DeNaples misled the gaming board when he said he had no connections to organized crime.

HARRISBURG — A coal company will treat mine drainage on the land where Flight 93 crashed, according to an agreement reached with the state that could move the federal government closer to building a permanent memorial at the site.PBS Coals Inc. and the state Department of Environmental Protection agreed in a consent order announced Monday that the company will also monitor water quality in the Somerset County area where the plane crashed on Sept. 11, 2001.PBS Coals owns more than 800 acres at the site. The federal government can't take possession of the land until the mine drainage is addressed.Because of the sensitive nature of the crash site, the company was prevented from treating the mine drainage there as it normally would.Under the new agreement, PBS will not be required to treat for manganese, unless the state finds elevated levels of the metal in the local water supply.