A few items of note as the week draws to a close, and they all just happen to thematically go together.

* Tribal PR: One of the five tribes whose revised gaming deal passed the Senate on Thursday is shifting in to high gear for a PR campaign to get that agreement through the Assembly. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians has launched a new website to help make their case, and there is also talk of an upcoming TV ad campaign. The website, called “Together California,” includes everything from an online petition to the web-standard FAQ page. And it’s clear that the most prominent selling point is the compact language calling for new, potentially large, payments to the state. “California faces a grim fiscal future without immediate help,” says the site.

Nonetheless, Morongo and the other four southern California tribes still face an uphill battle at getting past labor union objections to the compacts. (More on that here as part of this morning’s edition of The California Report).

* Horse Racing Help?: Given how often the fate of horse racing has been linked to debates over new tribal slot machines (horse tracks want slots in order to compete), one lawmaker has put forward a different idea to help the racing world– by rescinding the approximately $40 million in state licensing fees collected every year.

Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), chairman of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, today said he would introduce SB 873 to send that money back to the horse racing industry. Those fees currently pay for things like the network of state fairs and for university equine research. Florez’s bill says those programs would instead be funded by payments from the same five Indian compacts mentioned above. “The Governor and the tribes have both said they don’t want racing to become a thing of the past in California,” said Florez in a written statement. “Here is their chance to put their money where their mouth is.”

* And Speaking Of Race Horses… On today’s newsmagazine edition of The California Report, host Scott Shafer reports on how one of the most famous race horses in history, Seabiscuit, returned this week… sort of… to the small northern California town where he’s still revered. You can find local air times for the program here.