Caitlin Devitt

Indianapolis-based law firm Baker & Daniels LLP and Minnesota-based Faegre & Benson LLP completed their merger last week and announced that the combined firm will become known as Faegre Baker Daniels starting next January.

CHICAGO - A weak real estate market continues to plague the long-troubled senior living sector, though providers have enjoyed some stabilization in the last year, Standard & Poor's said in a new report.

CHICAGO - The U.S. Department of Transportation revoked a $1.5 million grant to Ohio after a group of Democratic congressmen from the state said Gov. John Kasich was wrongly using the money to hire a firm to advise the state on privatizing the Ohio Turnpike.

Ohio auditor Dave Yost last week put Akron on a fiscal caution status, marking the first time the state has used the new criteria.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded Lansing to A1 from Aa2, warning that the Michigan capital faces significant declines in property valuation and has a history of operating deficits.

Indiana collected $31 million more than projected last month and $164 million more than it collected during the same period last year, according to the state’s budget office.

CHICAGO - A close look at Flint, Mich.'s long-standing fiscal problems provides a glimpse into the challenges facing many of America's older industrial cities, according to a case study released last week by Michigan public finance scholars.

CHICAGO - The president of Cook County, Ill., fired the county's comptroller Wednesday, fallout from a $90 million accounting error that inflated the general fund and partly prompted a Moody's Investors Service's downgrade.

A possible state-ordered takeover of Flint advanced last week when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder appointed a financial review team to examine the troubled city’s finances.

The board of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, the third-largest hospital system in the country, last week adopted a budget of $828 million.

CHICAGO - Cook County, Ill., will enter the market beginning Wednesday with $600 million of taxable and tax-exempt bonds in its new administration's first borrowing since taking office last year.

CHICAGO - Detroit Public Schools' new chief financial officer says the district's upcoming $239 million deficit bond sale will help put it on the road to stable fiscal health, allowing it to avoid the short-term borrowing it has relied on for years and erase a chunk of its structural deficit.

CHICAGO - Gov. Rick Snyder is pushing a measure to eliminate or trim Michigan's personal property tax, which could pressure localities that rely on the money for operating costs and debt repayment, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency and local government proponents.

CHICAGO - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder this week unveiled $145 million of proposed cuts, mostly tied to the correctional system, to balance the budget as the state embarks on a fresh fiscal year starting Saturday.

CHICAGO - Firms interested in acting as underwriter for the Ohio Housing Finance Authority have until Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. to submit proposals.

CHICAGO - Ohio State University's plan to privatize its parking system advanced this week when the school posted a request for qualifications for firms interested in the asset.

CHICAGO — Michigan-based Trinity Health Corp. will bring the year's largest health care deal to market next week when it sells $648 million of debt, some of which will finance its recent acquisition of Loyola University Health System.

The Cincinnati City Council last week approved a measure to issue up to $28 million of bonds to finance infrastructure improvements around a future casino.

Omaha will retain its triple-A ratings from Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service as it heads to market next week with $23.8 million of general obligation bonds.

Miller Canfield attorney Michael McGee has been tapped to serve on the board of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, an independent research group, for the 2011-12 term, the firm announced Monday.