Caitlin Devitt

With tobacco consumption continuing to decline, Fitch Ratings last week downgraded $9 billion of tobacco bonds issued by Ohio and California after the two states were forced to draw on reserves to make their Dec. 1 payments.

CHICAGO — The market for privately placed municipal debt came out of the shadows in 2011.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder unveiled a $48.2 billion fiscal 2013 budget that he said reflects the state's improving fiscal position, boosting spending for education and roads and making a deposit into the state's anemic rainy-day fund.

Troubled Michigan school districts may find more affordable market access under legislation signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder that insulates certain types of bonds from the effects of bankruptcy.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich defended his push to privatize the Ohio Turnpike and called for the proposal's critics to "chill out" during his annual state of the state address Tuesday afternoon.

Local Democratic officials from northeast Ohio who are opposed to Gov. John Kasich’s proposal to lease the Ohio Turnpike said last week they would launch their own study of the privatization plan.

Nebraska lawmakers are eying a plan that would allow community colleges to use property tax dollars to back revenue bonds for capital improvements.

Legislation that would pave the way for a $1.3 billion bond-funded regional transit system for central Indiana is likely dead after the Senate president said last week he would not advance the bill.

CHICAGO — Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will enter the market Wednesday with $241 million of airport system refunding bonds.

CHICAGO — A Michigan film studio has defaulted on its Feb. 1 payment on $18 million of privately placed tax-exempt bonds, forcing the state pension plans, which back the debt, to make the payment.

CHICAGO — Mayor Dave Bing last week said Detroit has reached a tentative agreement with about half of its unions, which could help stave off the appointment of an emergency manager.

Michigan lawmakers have unveiled a series of bills that would revamp the state's transportation infrastructure formula, raise $1 billion of new money, and create a new bond-issuing regional transit authority for the Detroit region.

The Nebraska Public Power District will price $234 million of new-money and refunding general revenue bonds to capture interest rate savings and finance capital projects at its nuclear plant.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman made a rare appearance before legislators last week, pushing for a $327 million tax-cut plan that would reduce individual and corporate income taxes and eliminate the inheritance tax.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Jack Martin, a former chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Education, to be emergency manager of the Highland Park School District.

Detroit could be required to cut its income tax rate this year under a Michigan law that was part of a deal to guarantee the struggling city a fixed amount of state revenue aid for eight years.

CHICAGO — The nonprofit health care sector's brief post-2008 recovery is about to deteriorate in the face of myriad pressures, credit analysts warned in a pair of reports Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Michigan legislators will introduce as soon as Wednesday a 13-bill package that aims to rebuild the state's ailing transportation infrastructure by raising $1.4 billion of new revenue annually.

The Ohio Department of Transportation warned it was going to have to slice its budget and delay some projects by up to 20 years due to insufficient funds.

Fitch Ratings last week affirmed the CCC rating but revised the outlook to positive from stable on Pontiac, a Detroit suburb that is under emergency financial management.