Caitlin Devitt

A group opposed to Michigan's new emergency financial manager law for fiscally stressed municipalities said it is closing in on its goal of gathering enough signatures to suspend the law until it is voted on next November.

CHICAGO - Ohio has picked KPMG LLP as lead advisor for a proposal to privatize the Ohio Turnpike.

Proponents of a measure to increase South Dakota’s sales tax to fund K-12 and Medicaid said they have gathered more than twice the required signatures to put it on next year’s ballot.

Moody’s Investors Service placed Cleveland-based MetroHealth System on watch list for potential downgrade due to a decline in financial performance through the first nine months of fiscal 2011. The credit is rated A2.

Athens-based Ohio University will spend $1 billion over the next six years for capital improvements, most of it financed with bonds.

Two days after delivering a much-anticipated speech outlining Detroit’s fiscal problems, Mayor Dave Bing announced he would eliminate 1,000 positions — or 9% of the city’s workforce — by the end of February.

CHICAGO - Gov. Rick Snyder dodged a bullet Friday when a divided Michigan Supreme Court affirmed his controversial move to tax retirement income, a measure that balances the two-month-old 2012 budget and is part of the Republican governor's ambitious overhaul of the state's tax code.

CHICAGO - The Cook County, Ill., Board of Commissioners late Friday approved a $2.9 billion 2012 budget that credit analysts praised as taking some steps toward long-term structural reform for the nation's second-most-populous county.

CHICAGO - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said Thursday he expects Detroit officials will soon request a preliminary financial review - the first step toward a state takeover of the city.

CHICAGO - The U.S. market for public-private partnerships remains small and fragmented, marred by hurdles like clashing legislation and political controversy, in contrast to Canada and Europe, panelists said at The Bond Buyer's Transportation/P3 Conference here.

CHICAGO - Ohio hopes to issue a request for proposals by the end of the year to privatize its highway rest areas, one of several public-private partnerships being eyed by Gov. John Kasich's administration.

CHICAGO - As the market continues to cope with the near-disappearance of bond insurance, one effect is clear: the growing need for issuers to tout their stories to entice investors, panelists at the Bond Buyer's Transportation/P3 conference here said Tuesday.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the "people had spoken" last Tuesday when voters defeated by 63% a new law that would have curtailed collective bargaining for public employees.

Ohio State University announced last week that it has selected seven possible partners for the school's plan to become the first public university to privatize its parking system.

Detroit voters approved a new city charter that imposes a set of ethical rules for public officials.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard won a second term last week, defeating public finance attorney Melinda Kennedy.

CHICAGO - The Wayne County, Mich., Airport Authority, which runs Detroit Metropolitan Airport, will come to market Thursday with $127 million of refunding bonds.

CHICAGO - Promedica Health System will hold a retail order period Wednesday followed by institutional pricing Thursday for $145 million of refunding bonds.

Michigan would issue $3.2 billion or more of bonds to repay federal loans for unemployment benefits under a pair of bills that the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved Wednesday.

CHICAGO - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has declared that Flint is in a state of financial emergency, setting up the long-struggling city for a state takeover.