Caitlin Devitt

Indiana lawmakers ended their brief 2012 session Friday after passing controversial labor legislation, an automatic taxpayer refund, and a phase-out of the estate tax, among other measures.

Michigan Gov. Rick Sndyer will present Detroit officials Tuesday morning with an informal proposed consent agreement that would allow the nearly broke city to avoid a full state takeover.

CHICAGO — A lot has changed in the municipal debt world in the 20 years since Clayton Gillette and the late Robert Amdursky first wrote "Municipal Debt Finance Law: Theory and Practice."

In his third annual state of the city address, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder agree that an emergency manager is not the best option for the nearly broke city, but called on the state to offer "tangible" support to help stabilize the city's cash position.

CHICAGO — The "national explosion of consolidation" across the health care sector differs in key ways from past trends, as providers face new, complex problems and new players have entered the game to craft merger models that include risks and benefits, Moody's Investors Service said in a report released Thursday.

CHICAGO — Former public finance banker and credit analyst Ivan Samstein has joined Cook County, Ill.'s finance team as deputy chief financial officer.

CHICAGO — Lawmakers in South Dakota, typically one of the first states to complete its budget, last Friday approved a $4 billion, all-funds fiscal 2013 budget that reflects the state's strengthening fiscal position.

A measure that would ask residents of Ohio to authorize $1.3 billion of bonds to finance clean energy efforts advanced in late February when the state attorney general approved the measure.

The Michigan treasurer announced Friday that Detroit Public Schools will take over management of the struggling Highland Park School District.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded to Baa1 from A3 its rating on the Brighton Area School District and maintained its negative outlook, warning that the Michigan district is facing financial pressures and a significant general fund deficit.

Indiana collected less revenue than expected last month, though revenues remained up for the first eight months of the fiscal year, officials said this week.

CHICAGO — An effort afoot to suspend and overturn Michigan's emergency manager law could have negative consequences for the fiscally stressed local governments the law aims to help, Moody's Investors Service warns.

CHICAGO — The governors of Kentucky and Indiana Monday released the first comprehensive financing plan for a massive $2.6 billion bridges project that will rely heavily on tolls.

CHICAGO — Junk-rated Detroit Public Schools will bring $252 million of refunding bonds to market this week that feature enhanced double-A ratings based on Michigan's full-faith-and-credit pledge to repay the debt.

CHICAGO — A team of Michigan officials that is reviewing Inkster's finances voted Wednesday to accept a consent decree with local officials, a move that would allow the troubled Detroit suburb to avoid a full state takeover.

CHICAGO — A struggling Detroit suburb will ask voters to approve a property tax increase to cover debt payments on a failed film studio development that is draining the city's general fund.

Officials in Columbus, Ohio, are hoping the city's gilt-edged ratings will stand out when they bring $212.5 million of general obligation refunding bonds to market for interest-rate savings.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded to Baa3 from Baa1 its rating on Michigan’s Mount Clemens Community School District.

The mayor of Hammond, Ind., said last week he won’t move forward with a plan to sell the city’s water company due to costly legal fees and an uncertain market.

Cook County Commissioner and former Chicago Alderman William Beavers was indicted last week on three counts of filing false income tax returns and one count of endeavoring to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service.