HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania is among the states hoping to compete for a new Boeing aircraft assembly plant.

Department of Community and Economic Development spokesman Steve Kratz said Wednesday the company contacted the state on Tuesday, asking for proposals to attract a plant to build the new 777X aircraft.

Kratz says the state is looking at what it might offer as a competitive proposal that also takes into account the use of taxpayer dollars.

He says the large number of potential jobs makes Gov. Tom Corbett interested.

The company is approaching states, asking them to bid on the production of the plane after its machinist union members rejected a proposed contract with concessions on pensions and health care costs.

HARRISBURG — Total revenue from slot machines in Pennsylvania casinos is down more than 1 percent from a year ago.The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Wednesday revenue fell 1.3 percent in November compared to the same month in 2012.The slot machines brought in just less than $190 million and generated $102 million in tax revenue.The drop-off is 2.2 percent if the revenue figures are limited to the 11 casinos that were up and running last year. Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin has been open since July.The most revenue in November came from Parx Casino outside Philadelphia, which generated $28.7 million. In second is Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, at $24.2 million. In third is Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh at $23 million.

PITTSBURGH — Duquesne University has licensed the rights for a large group of cancer drugs to a North Carolina company.Duquesne says in a release the deal with Flag Therapeutics of Raleigh, N.C., is one of the largest licensing ventures in the school's history. It includes the rights to numerous water-soluble drugs that grew out Dr. Aleem Gangjee's research at Duquesne.Dr. Alan Seadler, Duquesne's associate provost for research and technology, says the deal will hopefully lead to new life-saving drugs for people battling cancer.Flag Therapeutics says it hopes to rapidly move toward starting clinical trials for the drugs. To become widely available the drugs would need to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell in October, helped by America's energy boom that lifted overall exports to an all-time high.The trade gap narrowed to $40.6 billion in October, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That's 5.4 percent lower than the September gap of $43 billion, which was higher than initially estimated.Exports rose 1.8 percent to a record $192.7 billion, buoyed by a 6 percent gain in petroleum exports. Imports rose 0.4 percent to $233.3 billion, the highest since March 2012. Oil imports rose 1.5 percent.