PENNSYLVANIA.

The article reports that Sallie Mae, the largest provider of student loans in the U.S., made a $1-billion bid in December to take over the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. Under the proposed arrangement, Sallie Mae would give the state $1-billion over five years to purchase assets, including its student-loan portfolio, and to manage the agency. In February the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, agreed to pay the federal government $517,496 to settle allegations that researchers had misled regulators and failed to protect patients during a 1999 gene-therapy study that led to the death of an 18-year-old research volunteer, Jesse Gelsinger. The article also provides statistical information related to the demography of the state.