Caitlin Devitt

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence must decide on whether to green light to a $1.2 billion bond-financed fertilizer plant amid allegations that the Pakistan-based owner had ties to explosives used against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday that the Detroit suburb of Ecorse has recovered enough to remove its emergency manager, though a three-member board will continue to cover significant financial operations.

The executive committee of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which oversees the region's transit plans, voted last week to switch to a new funding formula that will mean the loss of significant funding for Detroit.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing last week announced that private donations totaling $14 million will allow the city's parks and services to remain open through the summer.

The General Assembly last week approved a bill that would allow the Indiana Motor Speedway to issue up to $100 million of bonds backed by a new state credit.

Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday that it is closely watching several key events throughout 2013, including five scheduled debt-service payments, for any impact on the city's already junk-level credit rating.

As Detroit embarks on a massive restructuring of its long-term debt, the city's decisions over the years to wrap nearly all its bonds with insurance may prove as much a benefit to the city as to its bondholders.

The Ohio House last week approved a $61.5 billion, two-year, general fund budget that leaves out Gov. John Kasich's plan to expand Medicaid under the new federal health care law.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed a financial review team to examine the finances of the city of Hamtramck after a preliminary review found a serious financial condition.

Indianapolis Museum of Art comes to market this week with $37 million of refunding bonds that are part of the museum's overhaul of its debt management policy.

The city of Flint this week announced it will pull out of the Detroit water system, a move that will hit the bottom line of one of Detroit's strongest assets.

Indiana is on track to enjoy a "stable but slow" recovery, with revenues seeing a steady uptick through 2015, state fiscal officials said in a revenue forecast report released Tuesday.

After years of struggling with $13 million of bonds for a failed development, voters in Sylvan Township approved a ballot measure to more than quadruple their township tax rate, then threw all elected officials connected to the original bond issue out of office.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded to BB-plus from BBB-minus $30 million of revenue bonds issued for Beatrice Community Hospital.

Moody's Investors Service last week downgraded to A1 from Aa3 its rating on Michigan Technological University, affecting just under $80 million of outstanding debt.

Indianapolis Controller Jeff Spaulding is leaving the city for a new position at the Friedman Foundation for Education Choice.

Michigan law firm Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone PLC has named long-time Detroit based public finance attorney Michael McGee as its new CEO.

Construction could start as early as 2015 on a long-planned, largely bond-financed $3.5 billion trade bridge between Detroit and Windsor, the busiest trade route in the U.S.

Detroit's CFO said the $380M structural deficit that remains unsolved in Mayor Dave Bing's proposed $1 billion 2014 budget is actually good news because the deficit is "increasing at a decreasing rate."

The Ohio Treasurer and eight legislators are pushing a new bill that would require political subdivisions, including the state, to post more information on outstanding bonds when asking voters to approve new borrowing.