Caitlin Devitt

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.

A report by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute warned that legislators would have to consider a tax hike next year unless the state sees a quick economic rebound.

CHICAGO — The Ohio State University will enter the market Tuesday with $741 million of bonds to launch a $2 billion capital expansion program.

CHICAGO — Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Bronson Methodist Hospital next Tuesday is expected to enter the muni market with $200 million of mostly refunding bonds that will shift nearly all of its debt into a fixed-rate mode.

CHICAGO — Michigan legislators have paused their campaigning to return to Lansing today to try to hammer out a final state budget and avoid a government shutdown for the first time in years.

Ohio auditor Mary Taylor has declared three municipalities to be in a state of fiscal emergency over the past several weeks.

Michigan Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said last week that he would stop doing business with Wall Street banks that won’t participate in the state’s foreclosure program.

Moody’s Investors Service last week upgraded the Manheim School District to Aa3 from A1 based on a strong fiscal position after several years of generating large operating surpluses. The upgrade affects $21.2 million of general obligation debt, all of it fixed rate.

CHICAGO — A local dispute over a $150 million performing arts center prompted the Indiana attorney general last week to issue an opinion ruling that redevelopment commissions can issue some types of debt without the approval of a city’s legislative body.

CHICAGO — Detroit-area hospitals plan to spend up to $1.3 billion on capital projects over the next several years in the hopes of creating a medical industry to help replace the city’s vanishing manufacturing base, according to a new report.

CHICAGO — A month after winning city and county approval to sell its water and sewer system, Indianapolis stands poised to enter into a 50-year lease of its parking meters in exchange for cash and a piece of the annual parking revenue.

The Ohio Budget Planning and Management Commission — a bipartisan panel charged with crafting recommendations on how to solve an $8 billion shortfall in the 2012-2013 state budget — is asking the public for help.

Moody’s Investors Service this week downgraded the underlying rating of Marietta Area Health Care to Ba2 from Ba1. Washington County issued the debt on behalf of the hospital.

CHICAGO — The last time Nebraska issued bonds to finance highway projects was the summer of 1969. But five years of falling road revenues have prompted lawmakers to give borrowing a fresh look.

CHICAGO — Ohio has launched a new bond program aimed at lowering borrowing costs for two-year colleges across the state.

CHICAGO — Birmingham, Mich.-based law firm Clark Hill PLC has hired veteran attorney Robert Schwartz to expand its public finance practice.