Casino Cash Caught In Credit Crunch

                                        The Week In Pittsburgh

By Jeffery Fraser

Don Barden’s PITG Gaming LLC is finding plenty of bumps along the road to building its North Side casino with the latest – and perhaps the most worrisome – being trying to secure more than $600 million in loans while the nation is mired in a deep credit crunch that could worsen.

Barden’s company asked the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board last week for more time to complete a deal for permanent financing to build the Majestic Star casino along the north banks of the Ohio River, just down from the Carnegie Science Center. Asked if the casino financing was in trouble, PITG Gaming spokesman said: "I wouldn't say that.” Analysts say interest rates on such a large sum at this time could range from 9 percent to 16 percent. "There's not a lot of money to be had right now,” said one analyst. “It's really unfortunate for the Barden group. As attractive of a development that he has, getting affordable money these days is tough sledding."

The credit crunch is also hitting college Pennsylvania students who qualify for need-based grants awarded by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. PHEAA officials last week warned that the average grant awarded by the agency could shrink by $500. In March, PHEAA suspended a loan program that includes Stafford Loans.

A federal judge in Pittsburgh ruled last week that steelworkers can sue U.S. Steel’s Clairton coke works to get the company to pay them for showering and dressing. The employees want to be compensated for the time it takes to put on their safety gear at the beginning of the shift and to strip and shower at the end. Their work outfit includes flame retardant coveralls, insulated full-length underwear and socks, flame retardant wristlets and gloves, safety goggles, respirators, ear plugs, protective head coverings, boots, face shields and helmets.

It is possible that the United States will be able to generate as much electricity from wind turbines as it now gets from nuclear power plants, says a new U.S. Department of Energy report. It claims wind power could grow significantly over the next two decades to generate as much as 20 percent of our electricity needs. Pennsylvania’s recently adopted alternative energy portfolio calls for 18 percent of the electricity sold in the state to be generated by wind and other alternative sources over the next decade or so. But not all environmental groups are tickled over more pollution-free wind power. Three environmental groups announced intentions to sue a wind farm going up in Somerset County over concerns that the turbines will further endanger the already endangered Indiana bat. No mention was made of how continued dependence on fine particulate-spewing, heavily polluting coal-fired power plants would impact the tiny bat.

In business, Pittsburgh-based marketers of Meow Mix, Kibbles 'n Bits, Milk-Bones and other pet foods are facing a choice: Move to California or find another job. Del Monte is consolidating its pet product marketing under one roof and decided that roof is in California. That means 100 Pittsburgh jobs will relocate.

“Some local artists believe [Pittsburgh pop artist Burton] Morris' work owes a great debt to the late Robert Patla, a graphic artist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the 1980s,” wrote the Post-Gazette’s Mackenzie Carpenter in a feature on Morris published last week. It was a rare mention of Patla’s influence, which, by the way, was downplayed by Morris. A few samples of Patla’s work can be seen online: a Patla portrait is the final of three photos published in a slideshow; another Patla is found near the end of the accompanying video. Patla’s work is edgier, darker, more expressive. He was not the artist you’d ask to promote the Olympics, baseball’s all-star game, the Oscars or Perrier. For my money, that’s a plus. In other arts news, John Hiatt, Bo Bice, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Ballet and Blue Oyster Cult are part of the diverse mix of artists scheduled to perform at Allegheny County parks this summer. The complete performance schedule was released last week.

T-rex has returned with a vengeance The Carnegie Museum of Natural History. After three years and $36 million, the museum’s expanded and redesigned "Dinosaurs in Their Time" exhibit is finally finished and set to open June 15 featuring not one, but two tyrannosauruses.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading to the Stanley Cup finals to play either Dallas or Detroit after slapping the Philadelphia Flyers silly 6-0 Sunday at Mellon Arena to become the Eastern Conference champs and win the Prince of Wales trophy.

And finally, Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter is still sticking it to the National Football League. Last week he threatened to commission an independent investigation into the New England Patriots' Spygate scandal the likes of which have not been seen since, uh, last year when the Mitchell report on baseball's use of steroids was released. The senator was less than happy with the NFL’s assertion that new evidence doesn’t warrant further punishment of the Pats and the team’s coach, Bill Belichick. The team is accused of cheating by illegally videotaping opposing coaches' sideline signals. Four Steelers-Patriots games were involved.