Caitlin Devitt

CHICAGO — Michigan’s largest charity-care provider, already junk-rated, saw its outlook revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service Monday.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm told the Detroit Free Press last week that the beleaguered Detroit Public Schools system would likely have to remain under state control for several years.

Fitch Ratings downgraded to A-plus from AA its rating on Reid Hospital & Healthcare Services Inc., affecting $188 million of debt. The outlook remains negative at the lower rating.

A civil engineering group gave Indiana’s infrastructure a grade of D-plus in a report card, warning it needs billions of dollars in improvements. The state’s grade was slightly higher than the nationwide average of D.

CHICAGO — Ohio Tuesday will take retail orders for $582 million of refunding bonds to achieve lower interest costs over the next eight years.

CHICAGO — Investor outreach has become increasingly important as issuers continue to struggle with fiscal and market challenges, said panelists at the Women in Public Finance conference here Thursday.

CHICAGO — The Nebraska Public Power District will enter the market Monday with $270 million of bonds as part of its annual borrowing to finance capital projects.

CHICAGO — North Dakota continues to buck national trends, with officials this week reporting that revenues collected in the current biennium have exceeded projections and that the state is on track to see a $700 million surplus by next June.

CHICAGO — Indiana voters in November are expected to approve a ballot measure to make the state’s property-tax caps permanent — a move some local officials say could deepen the chill on local government borrowing that’s settled over the state since the caps were enacted in 2008.

Kent State University’s board last week approved $250 million of capital projects that feature $210 million of general receipt-backed borrowing.

Standard & Poor’s this week raised its rating on debt issued by three local governments under a Michigan credit-enhancement program for local transportation bonds.

Michigan lawmakers working to meet next week’s deadline for a final fiscal 2011 budget said it appears unlikely it will include a controversial proposal to build a new bridge over the nation’s busiest trade route linking Detroit and Windsor, Canada.

Macomb County officials are considering issuing $20 million to complete a 70-mile hiking and biking trail.

CHICAGO — Triple-A rated Madison, Wis., today will competitively price $110.7 million of debt that features five series, most of which are taxable general obligation promissory notes.

CHICAGO — The South Dakota Housing Development Authority is offering homebuyers the lowest interest rate in its history, thanks to recent changes in the federal New Issue Bond Program.

CHICAGO — Detroit-based law firm Lewis & Munday PC has been on a small hiring spree since last year and has opened an office in New York with an eye on Connecticut.

CHICAGO — Cook County, Ill., is expected to refund $121 million of general obligation bonds next week in what will likely be the last financing under outgoing board President Todd Stroger.

Fitch Ratings assigned a negative outlook and affirmed its BBB rating on $77 million of revenue bonds issued for Mercy Medical Center, a 340-bed hospital located in Canton.

Michigan could issue $40 million of one-year debt to secure up to half the necessary funds to avoid losing $475 million in federal highway funds next year. The proposed transportation budget includes $84 million needed to avoid losing the federal money.

Officials from Pontiac, which Michigan declared to be in a state of fiscal emergency in 2009, sent out layoff notices Friday to 104 city employees.