Construction delays and rising financing costs fueled by the home mortgage crisis have added $180 million to the price of Pittsburgh's planned slot machine casino.

Majestic Star officials say they are trying to get $630 million in financing for the casino from Credit Suisse in New York. The casino is expected to open in May 2009 but was originally projected to cost $450 million.

Majestic Star chief operating officer Kirk Saylor says the casino will now cost about $600 million from licensing to completion. Saylor says another $30 million is needed to pay for financing fees.

State gaming regulators awarded Majestic Star owner Don Barden the license in December 2006. But appeals by losing license bidders delayed the groundbreaking until December 2007.

Pittsburgh police say officers used a prohibited speed timing device to issue about 650 speeding tickets over the past six months.Chief Nate Harper said about 650 of 11,000 tickets were issued using only the Light Detection and Ranging — or LIDAR — system.A department spokeswoman said state law prohibits local police from using the technology to nab speeders. Pittsburgh police can use other technology to determine drivers' speed.Harper said the department got two LIDAR units in October for testing and evaluation. They were to be used along with other approved speed timing devices.Harper said he will notify district judges that tickets marked with LIDAR as the sole speed detection device are invalid. He said drivers who paid their fines will be reimbursed.

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and his wife, Erin, say they have a solution to the city's declining population. They're having a baby.The First Couple announced that Erin Ravenstahl is scheduled to give birth to the couple's first child sometime this fall.Tom Murphy, who was mayor from January 1994 until January 2006, had a young son, T.J. But Ravenstahl will become the first Pittsburgh mayor since Pete Flaherty to be raising an infant while in office.Flaherty's son, Greg, was born shortly after his dad won the Democratic mayoral primary on his way to being elected mayor in 1969.Ravenstahl is also the city's youngest mayor. He turned 28 in February.