Caitlin Devitt

Detroit amended its interest-rate swaps deal to drop banks' requirement that it sign off on its plan of debt adjustment, and also said it would file an updated bankruptcy plan on Monday.

Detroit's proposed $120 million loan with Barclays, which would finance service improvements, advanced Tuesday after a key Michigan board approved the deal.

Standard & Poor's Tuesday downgraded Detroit's already junk-rated $5.9 billion of water and sewer bonds warning of a default even as the city turns to the private sector to take over the asset.

The city of Flint and Genesee County in Michigan and their new Karegnondi Water Authority are bringing $220 million of bonds to market to finance their breakaway from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and build their own 63-mile pipeline to Lake Huron.

The judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy case ordered the city to disclose more details of a proposed $120 million loan with Barclays, including financing terms and the use of proceeds.

The Detroit Water and Sewer Department plans to come to market in June with $150 million of sewer bonds — and possibly a restructuring of its entire $4 billion portfolio — in the midst of the city's tumultuous bankruptcy and talks to privatize the asset.

The counterparties to Detroit's interest-rate swaps mounted their first public defense of a controversial settlement with the city Friday, arguing that the derivatives are legally secured and warning that litigation would be costly and painful for Detroiters.

Three Detroit-area hospital systems said Friday they plan to merge into a single $2.8 billion system.

The bond insurers that wrap Detroit's unlimited-tax general obligation bonds have been ordered into a Monday mediation session with the city several weeks after the judge overseeing the case said he would issue a ruling on whether or not the city can treat the debt as unsecured.

Cincinnati's new mayor wants the federal court to organize all the city's retirees and employees into a single class and hammer out a consent agreement in court-ordered mediation in order to deal with the city's growing pension headache.

Detroit has reportedly yet to finalize a crucial settlement with its interest-rate swap counterparties.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder told local reporters that he wants Detroit to reach an agreement with its retirees to help advance legislation that would appropriate $350 million in state funds for the city's unfunded pensions.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has introduced a new two year capital bill that spends $2.4 billion for capital projects and relies on $2.1 billion of new-money borrowing.

A pair of bond insurers filed lawsuits this week challenging key aspects of Detroit's bankruptcy debt plan, litigation that could derail the city's goal of exiting by the fall.

Syncora is challenging Detroit's latest attempt to settle with its interest-rate swap counterparties, a day after FGIC filed a challenge to the city's lawsuit attempting to invalidate its pension certificates.

Bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Company has asked the bankruptcy court overseeing Detroit's Chapter 9 to allow it to intervene in a city lawsuit that attempts to repudiate $1.4 billion of pension certificate debt.

A proposed 47-mile toll road linking Indiana and Illinois is eligible for a federal TIFIA loan that could reduce construction costs by up to 20%, officials said.

Once known as "Little Detroit," the small city of Connersville has declared a financial emergency, warning it might not have enough money to make payroll by May.

Michigan lawmakers passed a $330 million mid-year 2014 budget supplemental bill last week that features more road money for local governments hit hard by the harsh winter.

Six months after first announcing a deal, bankrupt Detroit is still struggling to secure a key debtor-in-possession loan with Barclays.