Infrastructure

CHICAGO - Ohio is launching a new federal bond fund program under the state infrastructure bank to finance highway and transit projects, a move that comes as officials have named transportation funding a top priority for the state.

Los Angeles International Airport kept double-A ratings on its senior-lien revenue bonds from all three major credit agencies ahead of a $950 million bond sale that will more than quintuple its debt at a time when the airline industry is in a steep descent.

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Development Authority yesterday approved funding recommendations for six projects within one of the city's first tax allocation districts, the Westside TAD. The projects would be funded in part from proceeds of a new bond issue expected to total $110 million.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Bay Area Toll Authority in California plans to restructure its entire $2.4 billion portfolio of Ambac Assurance Corp.-backed variable-rate debt in the coming months, its second major debt restructuring spurred by insurer downgrades this year.

Port authorities in Georgia and South Carolina will share ownership of the Jasper Ocean Terminal site located in South Carolina under plans set for approval next week.

DALLAS — The rapidly growing South Texas town of Pharr needs to update aging infrastructure but years of financial mismanagement have led to a low investment-grade rating with a negative outlook.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, in its mid-year status report released Tuesday, said that much of its capital improvement program has been completed.

The New York State Thruway Authority will initiate a new procedure intended to increase participation of minority-owned firms in underwriting when it goes to market with the sale of up to $1 billion of bonds next month.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the commonwealth to extend its financial guarantee on $2.2 billion of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority debt - a move that would allow the authority to use the state's higher credit rating yet at the same time increase its outstanding bond obligation.

CHICAGO - Cleveland is expected to issue nearly $290 million of variable-rate airport revenue bonds today in a transaction that marks the city's last major refinancing in its months-long effort to convert all of its outstanding auction-rate securities.