Caitlin Devitt

The Ohio Turnpike Commission plans to issue a pair of RFQs for firms interested in acting as underwriter or bond counsel on a $1.5 billion deal featuring a new turnpike credit that still needs to be approved by the Legislature.

If Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appoints an emergency manager for Detroit, that person will tackle $15 billion of long-term debt liabilities and try to maneuver around a $440 million swap termination payment.

Treasurer Andy Dillon said Detroit can avoid bankruptcy, after a Michigan review team found that a financial emergency exists in the city paving the way for an emergency manager.

Fitch Ratings revised its outlook to negative from stable on Xavier University, a private, Jesuit institution based in Cincinnati. The ratings agency affirmed its A-minus rating on the school.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing last week unveiled a public-private partnership to tackle demolition of the countless vacant and blighted buildings across the city.

The board of Wayne State University last week approved a plan to sell $92 million of general revenue bonds this spring to finance new construction, including a new building in Detroit.

Indiana lawmakers this week began debate on a new two-year budget that's cushioned with a $2 billion surplus, strong revenues, and low debt.

With the threat of an emergency manager hanging over Detroit, Mayor Dave Bing said the city is making progress despite its fiscal problems during an optimistic state of the city address.

Ohio Thursday holds a competitive sale to refund $267 million of general obligation school bonds to achieve interest-rate savings, and will return to market in two weeks with $135M of new money.

Moody's Investors Service last week downgraded its underlying rating to Baa1 from A2 on Northeast Ohio Medical University.

Long-time Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson – recovering from an August car accident in which he was seriously injured -- said the triple-A county was starting to rebound from the Great Recession.

The Indiana Motor Speedway would be able to issue up to $100 million of bonds backed by a new pledge of state taxes under a bill set to be debated Thursday.

Moody's Investors Service said it downgraded $20 billion of non-profit health care debt last year, a 213% jump from 2011 and the most since the ratings agency starting tracking the number in 1995.

Nebraska lawmakers last week heard hours of testimony – most of it critical – on Gov. Dave Heineman's plan to eliminate the state's income tax and replace it with a broader sales tax base.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Thursday presented a $51 billion all-funds 2014 budget that would raise fuel and registration taxes to support $1.2 billion of new annual infrastructure funding, expand Medicaid and boost education spending.

Ohio transportation officials announced the three firms that will vie for work on a $330 million bridge project in downtown Cleveland that is the state's first public-private partnership.

Gov. John Kasich proposed $1.4 billion in tax cuts and a $3 billion infrastructure program financed in part by a new Ohio Turnpike bond credit as well as a one-time $500 million cash payment into the state's rainy day fund as part of his $130.5 billion 2014-2015 spending plan.

Hospitals will likely continue to come to market to take advantage of low interest rates and strong investor interest despite uncertainty tied to federal deficit talks and implementation of the new federal health care law, Wells Fargo says in a report.

Cincinnati and Duke Energy Corp. have agreed to ask a judge to decide who should pay $15 million to relocate underground utility lines to make way for the planned route of a new streetcar.

A bill introduced last week would ask Michigan voters to raise the state sales tax by 2 percentage points to generate new money for transportation infrastructure funding.