Caitlin Devitt

CHICAGO — The Detroit suburb of Hamtramck has pressed Michigan officials to allow it to become the state’s first city to file for bankruptcy. Now it has reached a financial agreement with Detroit that, together with a hoped-for $2.5 million state loan, could stabilize its finances for at least the next 10 months.

CHICAGO — Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday downgraded its long-term rating on DePauw University to A3 from A2, warning that the small Indiana liberal arts school suffers from deeply imbalanced operations.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District could lay off 13% of its workforce and shutter seven schools in an effort to close a $47 million shortfall and stabilize its bottom line.

After days of debate, Nebraska lawmakers last Saturday approved a bill that will divert a slice of the state’s sales tax to finance road projects.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners tapped a new interim chief for the health and hospital system after the unexpected resignation of two-year chief financial officer William Foley last week.

CHICAGO — Whiting, Ind., will remarket $200 million of environmental facility revenue bonds as early as Tuesday on behalf of BP Products North America Inc., which operates its second-largest refinery in the northwest Indiana town.

CHICAGO — Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s proposed two-year spending plan would gut the budget of one of the state’s oldest bond issuers but leave its bond-issuing authority intact.

CHICAGO — Mayor Dave Bing Tuesday said he would challenge newly released U.S. Census results that show Detroit’s population dropped by a quarter in the last decade to 713,000, the lowest head count since 1910.

CHICAGO — Ohio senators Wednesday unanimously passed a $7 billion, two-year transportation budget that allows the state to impose tolls to finance projects and enter into public-private partnerships to build and maintain new infrastructure.

CHICAGO — Dayton, Ohio-based MedAmerica Health Systems will begin taking retail orders Wednesday on $100 million of fixed-rate bonds followed by institutional sales Thursday.

A 12-member group of politicans and business leaders is asking Gov. John Kasich to reconsider his decision to abandon plans for high-speed rail in Ohio.

After a debate over the legal use of general obligation bonds, the Detroit City Council last week unanimously voted to use $750,000 of debt to demolish the former landmark Ford Auditorium.

Three years into his tenure, Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Robert Bobb has won control of its academics thanks to a new Michigan law that gives emergency managers control over more than just a distressed governmental unit’s finances.

Indiana senators are holding the first of a series of budget hearings this week despite the absence of House Democrats, most of whom remain in neighboring Illinois in protest of a series of Republican-backed bills that curtail public unions.

Moody’s Investors Service dropped Maywood, in Cook County west of Chicago, five notches to Baa3 from A1. The action affects $30.7 million of outstanding general obligation unlimited-tax debt.

CHICAGO — Warning that municipalities across Michigan are facing serious fiscal challenges, freshman Gov. Rick Snyder Monday unveiled a package of bills that would overhaul local governance while slashing state aid by a third.

CHICAGO — The new administration running Cook County, Ill., is conducting its first request for proposal process to assemble a finance team to lead debt issuance over the next two years.

CHICAGO — Ohio Gov. John Kasich Tuesday unveiled a highly anticipated two-year budget that tackles an $8 billion shortfall and avoids raising taxes by cutting spending, selling state assets, and pushing off near-term debt payments.

CHICAGO — South Dakota lawmakers have approved a $3.9 billion all-funds fiscal 2012 budget that fulfills Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s promise to eliminate the state’s structural deficit within one year without dipping into reserves or raising taxes.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich reportedly said last week he does not support giving Cincinnati $50 million for a long-planned $150 million streetcar project.