Caitlin Devitt

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.

CHICAGO — The University of Akron in Ohio is pricing $135.7 million of bonds Wednesday that will allow the school to shift its debt into fixed-rate mode and terminate a costly interest-rate swap.

A new fiscal analysis projects federal health care reform could cost Nebraska up to $766 million over the next 10 years, largely due to its expansion of the Medicaid program.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded the Wayne County Airport Authority to A-minus from A, now with a stable outlook.

The Indianapolis Airport Authority’s board last week approved a $200 million fiscal 2011 operational budget and a $50 million capital budget that includes no new borrowing.

A new bond authority created to build and own a new arena in Lincoln, Neb., will competitively price $100 million of taxable Build America Bonds on Tuesday.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm Wednesday unveiled a deficit-elimination plan that features cuts and a handful of one-time revenue measures, including restructuring a chunk of the state's outstanding general obligation debt.

U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel told attorneys in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to be back in court Aug. 26 to set a date for a new trial.

Moody's Investors Service warned this week that last week's flooding across central Iowa could have negative credit implications for the hardest-hit towns.

The looming foreclosure on a downtown Cleveland landmark could have implications for tax increment financing debt sold for the project and TIF-backed borrowings across the state and nationally, say some Ohio bond attorneys.

Fitch Ratings has placed six Ohio port authority pooled loan programs on negative watch while it reviews the process used to rate them.

The Omaha Public Power District's board approved up to $300 million of bonds to finance capital projects over the next two years.

Gov. Mitch Daniels said Indiana's education budgets are likely to be spared additional cuts if revenues remain at their current levels. Late last year he ordered $300 million cut from the K-12 budget and $150 million from the higher-education budget to help offset declining revenues. The K-12 budget accounts for more than half of the state's general fund.

The Municipal Bond Club of Chicago and Fitch Ratings are hosting a 10-week overview of the muni market starting Sept. 16.

Federal prosecutors late Tuesday afternoon said they would likely retry former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich after a jury was able to reach a unanimous verdict on only one of 24 counts brought against him.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has tapped budget director Chris Ruhl as head of the state's Office of Management and Budget.