Caitlin Devitt

Indiana would prohibit bond issuers from hedging more than 20% of their outstanding debt in a bill that passed the state Senate Tuesday and now heads to the House.

CHICAGO — Double-A rated Ohio Wednesday will price two series of bonds totaling $58 million to finance cultural, sports, parks, and recreation projects across the state.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating to Ba3 from Ba1 on Garden City Hospital's long-term debt and said it will maintain its negative outlook even at the lower rating level.

Fitch Ratings last week revised its outlook to negative on Kalamazoo while affirming its AA-plus rating on much of the city's outstanding bonds.

A committee of the Indianapolis Marion County City-County Council Wednesday approved Mayor Greg Ballard's plan to issue up to $98 million of bonds to support construction of a new Eli Lilly & Co. campus. The full council will consider the measure Feb. 28.

CHICAGO — Illinois plans to sell $3.7 billion of taxable general obligation bonds Tuesday and Wednesday, the state said this morning.

CHICAGO — New Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder presented a $45.9 billion all-funds fiscal 2012 budget that features $1.8 billion in cuts and what the governor dubbed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s tax structure.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn Wednesday unveiled a $53 billion fiscal 2012 budget that relies on a controversial $8.75 billion bond sale to pay off a huge backlog of bills bogging down the cash-strapped state.

CHICAGO — Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled a two-year, $64 billion spending plan that relies heavily on income tax increases to overcome a $6.2 billion shortfall.

CHICAGO — Illinois has postponed its $3.7 billion taxable general obligation bond sale scheduled for Thursday until next week to give investors time to digest Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposal Wednesday.

An Illinois surge helped issuance volume in the Midwest rise more than 26% last year, to $83.8 billion.

A week before Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker presents a fiscal 2012 budget, he unveiled a controversial “budget repair” bill that implements a number of strategies, including major employee cuts, to eliminate the state’s current $137 million shortfall.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources last Friday gave an initial green light to a new coal-fired power plant to be located in the city of Holland.

Cash-strapped Detroit estimates it spent $1.24 million on snow removal and clean-up from the blizzard that swept across much of the Midwest two weeks ago.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department will now be run by a new regional water board, ending months of negotiation between city and county officials.

Moody’s Investors Services last week affirmed its Aa2 rating on the Cedar Rapids School District but revised the outlook to negative, warning of narrowed reserves and ongoing challenges to replenishing its fund balance.

The population of Gary lost nearly a quarter of its population in the last decade, according to 2010 census figures released last week.

CHICAGO — Michigan would give emergency financial managers who are appointed to take over local governments the authority to terminate labor contracts under a proposed overhaul of the state’s main law for dealing with fiscally stressed credits.

CHICAGO — Detroit Public Schools’ emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is pushing Michigan lawmakers to enact a bill that would insulate a chunk of the district’s debt from bankruptcy to address concerns by the debt’s bond insurer.

New Gov. John Kasich said again last week that he is considering leasing the Ohio Turnpike, a move that could bring in $2.4 billion. Of that, the state would have to pay off $600 million of outstanding debt, which would need to be defeased in the event of privatization.