Caitlin Devitt

CHICAGO — Moody’s Investors Service Friday downgraded Illinois’s general obligation debt to A1 from Aa3, saying infighting among the state’s leaders has led to ongoing budget delays, erosion of finances, and a severe pension funding gap.

CHICAGO — Sanitary improvement districts have long been a key infrastructure development tool in Omaha. However, the districts are increasingly distressed amid the region’s lifeless housing market, and many are starting to have trouble paying back the debt they issued at the peak of the housing boom five years ago.

Moody’s Investors Service upgraded its rating on $16 million of South Dakota Building Authority outstanding lease debt to Aa2 from Aa3.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed Marietta Area Health Care’s Ba1 rating on negative watch, affecting $38.5 million of outstanding debt. Marietta has an additional $33 million of letter-of-credit-backed debt not rated by Moody’s. Analysts expect to issue a full review of the credit within the next 30 days.

Kent State University’s board last week approved a five-year, $250 million capital plan to finance various improvements starting next year through 2016. Officials also said they would ask the state for $65 million in financing.

The Michigan Supreme Court Friday handed state transportation officials a victory when it upheld a ruling requiring Manuel Moroun, the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, to rebuild the ramps and approaches leading to the span. The ruling could pave the way for forcing Maroun to conform to designs by the Michigan Department of Transportation.

CHICAGO — St. Louis County will competitively sell $20 million of tax-exempt special obligation bonds and taxable recovery zone economic development bonds to finance construction of a new health care campus in Berkeley.

CHICAGO — Nonprofit health care providers grappling with what to do about interest rate swaps that for years saved them money but now have become costly burdens face a “stark choice” that can depend on their fiscal position and appetite for risk.

CHICAGO — Ohio next week will price $20 million of taxable revenue bonds backed by profits from the state’s liquor sales, a revenue source unscathed by the recession.

CHICAGO — The federal health care overhaul could cost Indiana up to $2.9 billion through 2020, a new report estimates.

A $425 million plan to build a new convention center and medical merchandise mart in downtown Cleveland advanced last week as the Cuyahoga County Commission approved the purchase of the last piece of land needed for the complex.

The Detroit City Council Friday approved a 2011 fiscal budget that chopped roughly $32 million from Mayor Dave Bing’s proposed spending plan.

A Michigan House subcommittee last week approved three bills that would authorize a bond-issuing regional authority to oversee a 400-mile mass transit system running throughout the Detroit area.

CHICAGO — The worst could be over for Michigan, according to economists and fiscal officials who gathered in Lansing Friday for the state’s twice-annual revenue estimating conference.

CHICAGO — The Michigan House is expected to vote Tuesday on a bill that would advance a controversial $2 billion bond-funded bridge spanning the busy Detroit-Canada trade route.

CHICAGO — A report reviewing the Cleveland Municipal School District’s bond practices recommends that it opt for competitive over negotiated bond sales when issuing general obligation debt to ensure the lowest borrowing costs.

The Cincinnati City Council last week passed a measure to issue up to $64 million in bonds to advance a long-planned $128 million project to build a streetcar.

Nebraska revenues last month came in $52 million below projections, state officials said last week.

The Troy City Council last week passed a $141 million fiscal 2011 budget that calls for the city’s library to close by next summer. The cut comes after residents in February defeated a five-year property tax increase that city officials said would keep the library open.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing last week held the first meeting of a “land-use summit” group that will help shape the long-term plan to reshape, and likely downsize, the troubled city.