Mary DiGiacomo Colins, the chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board since 2007, is expected to step down from the agency within the next two months, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The governor is expected to replace Colins, 60, who is in line for an appointment as a senior judge within the Pennsylvania court system, with his chief of staff, Greg Fajt.

The move means the gaming board, which oversees the licensing and operation of slot machines in the state, would get its third leader since it was created 41/2 years ago, while also triggering changes at the top echelon of Gov. Rendell's senior staff.

Colins declined several requests for an interview. Through a gaming board spokesman, she released this comment yesterday: "There is still a significant amount of work to be done by this board and I continue to serve at the pleasure of the governor."

The Green Party of Pennsylvania has called for the resignation of John Hanger, acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, citing his statement that the value of the natural gas in the deep Marcellus shale formation outweighs the environmental damage the drilling may cause.

Mr. Hanger, in a story on the Reuters wire last week, said the drilling into the 5,000- to 8,000-foot-deep shale formation that underlies much of the state will "inevitably" result in environmental damage, including possible contamination of water supplies.

Tim Reim, Erie County Green Party chairman, said in a Thursday release that Mr. Hanger's "willingness to sacrifice the rights of some Pennsylvanians to clean water from their own wells ... so the natural gas industry can profit privately" contradicts the DEP's mission.

It was a rough week for Mr. Hanger, who was criticized by conservative Republican lawmakers at a Pennsylvania Senate confirmation hearing in Harrisburg Wednesday.

Mr. Hanger, a former executive director of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a more mainstream statewide environmental group, said it was a "typical week." He said he has no plans to resign and rejected Mr. Reim's and the Green Party's positions as inaccurate and extreme.

In the wake of a funding scandal centered on a Beaver County nonprofit group, state Sen. Jane Orie is demanding that a state economic development agency reform its procedures for monitoring the use of state funds.

And two other Republican senators, including freshman Elder Vogel of Beaver County, want to prevent any senators from creating, controlling or influencing nonprofit community groups that get state money.

In recent years, two Democratic senators, who have now left the Legislature, had roles with such nonprofit development groups -- Sen. Vincent Fumo with a South Philadelphia group and Sen. Gerald LaValle as co-chairman of the Beaver Initiative for Growth, the one Ms. Orie is targeting.

The McCandless Republican is highly critical of the Department of Community and Economic Development for not doing enough to ensure that the $10 million in state grants given to the Beaver Initiative were audited and spent properly.

Based on a grand jury's recommendation, Attorney General Tom Corbett last week filed 28 corruption charges against former House Democratic Whip Mike Veon of Beaver, the founder of the Beaver Initiative, who is accused of doling out the state money for his personal and political benefit.