Caitlin Devitt

Moody’s Investors Service last week upgraded to Baa2 from Baa3 its rating on Ball Memorial Hospital, affecting $101 million of bonds.

Ohio has reached an agreement to privatize its lucrative liquor distribution system for $1.4 billion through a newly created private nonprofit entity that will use the revenue for economic development.

CHICAGO — Less than a year after opening, Michigan's largest film studio reportedly is in danger of missing its Feb. 1 debt service payment.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Wednesday night defended the state's expansion of its emergency management law for troubled local governments and urged legislators to address a steep road-funding shortfall and support a newly created educational authority that will take over the state's worst schools.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis is expecting an infusion of anywhere from $125 million to $400 million from hosting Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5.

Sioux Falls, S.D., is heading to market with a $119.2 million sales-tax-backed bond issue that marks the city's largest borrowing to date.

Michigan has $632 million more in its coffers than expected as it heads into fiscal 2013, fiscal officials said Friday at the state’s biannual revenue estimating conference.

The Brighton Area School District has asked the state for permission to put an $88 million bond issue on the May referendum.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels touted his legislative agenda — which includes a controversial labor bill — and his achievements during his eight-year tenure at his final state of the state address last week.

A group of governments near Flint, Mich., hopes to solidify a plan over the next month to break away from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and begin construction of their own bond-financed water pipeline to Lake Huron.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Thursday morning declared that a state of fiscal emergency exists in the suburban Detroit-area Highland Park School District and state officials said they would be forced to advance the district its January state aid payment so that it could cover its bills, including this week's payroll.

Detroit can avoid a state takeover if city officials reach a deal with unions by early February, Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon said Tuesday.

A recently abandoned plan to build a light-rail line in Detroit won new life last week when the federal government agreed to give local officials 90 days to refine a less costly plan.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing told the City Council last week that contrary to earlier projections, the city would not run out of cash by April.

Indiana has become the fourth state in the country to reach an agreement with Amazon.com Inc. for the retail giant to collect state sales tax on Internet purchases.

The Indiana Finance Authority has issued a request for qualifications from legal firms interested in serving as transaction counsel on the state's portion of the $2.6 billion bi-state Ohio River Bridges project.

CHICAGO — Indiana's chief budget official is stepping down.

Seattle-based Perkins Coie LLP has hired a trio of public finance attorneys who will work out of the firm's Chicago office to help expand its health care business.

A week ahead of Michigan's formal revenue forecasting conference, an independent fiscal agency has released a report suggesting the state could end its current fiscal year with a $736 million surplus.

Indiana lawmakers returned to work Wednesday for a short session that begins with controversial labor legislation but will also likely include bills advancing a $1.3 billion bond-funded mass transit plan and raising more revenue for cash-strapped local governments.