State News-Monday, Sept. 25th

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - State gambling regulators are expected this week to give Pennsylvania's horse-racing tracks the go-ahead to plug in thousands of slot machines. It's shaping up as the biggest step in two years toward making Pennsylvania one of the nation's busiest gambling markets. On Wednesday, the seven-member Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled to vote on whether to grant conditional slots licenses to the state's six racetrack owners. With most -- if not all -- of the racetracks expected to get the nod, Pennsylvanians for the first time will soon be able to play slot machines in their home state. Racetrack owners are spending well over one billion dollars to tear down old grandstands and rebuild them with steakhouses, spas and sports bars to wrap around the gambling floors.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A Powerball ticket sold in Iowa is worth $200 million, Iowa Lottery officials said Sunday. The winning ticket was sold at a Kum & Go convenience store in Fort Dodge, about 70 northwest of Des Moines. About 499 tickets were sold for Saturday night's drawing at the store, Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said. The winner has not come forward and likely would not for several days, she said. The earliest possible time the winner could validate the ticket is Monday, when the lottery headquarters in Des Moines opens for business, she said. Likely, the winner will consult with a financial adviser before coming forward. That frequently takes several days or weeks, Neubauer said. An assistant manager at the convenience store was shocked to hear the winning ticket was sold at her store. "I've got goose bumps," Robin Graves said in a statement. "I still can't get over it - that actually somebody in Iowa won and especially that it was at the store where I work." She said the store has seen a lot of people pooling their money to buy large numbers of tickets in the past few days. Co-workers, for example, will frequently pool money together to buy tickets. "It could be a pool player or it could be somebody just playing on their own," Neubauer said. The Kum & Go chain, based in West Des Moines, will get a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. The winning ticket numbers were computer picked, Neubauer said. For Saturday's drawing they were: 13-21-26-45-50 and Powerball 20. The winning prize, if taken in payments over 30 years is $200.8 million before taxes. The after tax amount would be $140.5 million, Neubauer said. If the winner choses a lump sum, they would get $95.9 million before taxes or take home a check for $67.1 million, she said. The jackpot was the 13th won at more than $200 million in the Powerball game, which began in 1985 and is played in 29 States, Washington D.C. and the US Virgin Islands. The record Powerball jackpot was $365 million won by eight workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant in February.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state House of Representatives this week is devoting two days to considering nearly 100 anti-crime bills. The rare session will include proposals ranging from limiting gun purchases to requiring handgun "fingerprinting" to a massive increase in state funding for more local police officers. It is already being cast as a showdown between Philadelphia and the rest of Pennsylvania. By bus and by foot, thousands of Philadelphians -- including victims of violence, church leaders and elected officials -- will travel to the Capitol this week to push for tougher gun laws as . But they will be met by sportsmen's groups and a Legislature dominated by gun-rights advocates with a history of opposing what they view as unnecessary and ineffective new restrictions on firearms.

UNDATED (AP) - Ten voters from different parts of Pennsylvania will be monitored to see how they'll make up their minds about which U.S. Senate candidate to support. Over the next six weeks, The Associated Press will report periodically about their decision making process regarding Republican Senator Rick Santorum, Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey and the Green Party's Carl Romanelli. The panel of registered and likely voters was randomly
identified in a poll by Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster conducted in August. One panelist made up her mind just days after the A-P initially contacted her: 56-year-old Mary Stubbs will be voting for Santorum. The others haven't decided. But when pressed to pick a candidate if the election were held today, five went for Santorum, one for Casey and the rest were unsure.