Caitlin Devitt

Ohio voters shot down 13 of 17 levy requests by school districts in the recent election, a series of defeats that Moody's Investors Service warns could mean pressure the fiscal positions of several of the districts.

A group of northwest Indiana counties is eyeing a bid for a 75-year lease of the Indiana Toll Road that would be financed with more than $4 billion of tax-exempt revenue bonds.

The Michigan Senate approved a new road funding tax that could raise as much as $1.5 billion in new annual funding, marking a victory for Gov. Rick Snyder.

The Chicago suburb of Bridgeview is restructuring $2 million of TIF bonds — and attaching its general obligation pledge to the debt — to help ease a massive debt tied to a troubled soccer stadium.

A Chicago-based fiscal watchdog group praised Cook County, Ill.'s proposed 2015 $3.7 billion budget for tackling a deficit without any new taxes, but warned the "enormous" problems lie ahead tied to pension problems and the county's massive public health system.

The federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy has ordered mediation to resolve a dispute over the city's legal bills, which total $140 million and are climbing.

For the fourth time, Posey County, Ind. is remarketing $1.26 billion of short-term notes to raise funds for a controversial $2.5 billion fertilizer plant.

The outcome of Detroit's high-profile bankruptcy highlights the growing tension between pension obligations and bond debt for distressed governments while leaving a lack of legal clarity on the treatment of general obligation bonds.

The bankruptcy judge overseeing Detroit's Chapter 9 case confirmed the city's plan of confirmation Friday, capping the largest municipal bankruptcy case in the U.S. by endorsing a plan that favored pensioners over bondholders

Standard & Poor's said Detroit's bankruptcy will not affect the agency's general obligation ratings despite "months of headlines and court battles."

The city of Allen Park, Mich., is preparing to refinance up to $28 million of bonds that were the target of fraud charges and a recent settlement by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy will rule on the city's debt plan Friday, in one of the most closely watched cases in the muni market.

Newly elected Wayne County, Michigan Executive Warren Evans said he believes the long-struggling county, home to Detroit, will be able to avoid a state-appointed emergency manager.

Three days before a judge rules on Detroit's bankruptcy exit strategy, the city posted a proposed order that defends the plan as conforming to all key federal benchmarks, highlighting its legal justification for favoring pensioners over bondholders.

Passage of a long-stalled transportation infrastructure package that would raise $1.2 billion in new revenue will be Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's top priority during the upcoming lame-duck legislation session, the state's budget director said.

Voters in Cleveland, Ohio Tuesday will weigh in on a $200 million bond issue that would replenish a 13-year old capital plan for one of the state's largest school districts.

Michigan's decade-long policy of repeatedly cutting local aid to help deal with its own fiscal problems has helped drive some of its local governments into fiscal crisis, the Chicago Fed says in a new report.

Members of Detroit's two pension systems and Wayne County's retirement system have the systems' actuarial firm, alleging that consultants used faulty assumptions that contributed to underfunding that some say helped drive the city into bankruptcy.

The operator of the Indiana Toll Road won federal court approval for a bankruptcy plan that will either sell its 75-year lease of the highway or restructure the company with $2.75 billion of new debt.

Michigan should enact protection of general obligation bonds to help the state's local governments in the wake of Detroit's treatment of its GOs as unsecured, says bankruptcy expert James Spiotto.