Michigan

A lawsuit challenging the appointment of new Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr has been dropped.

Michigan budget director John Nixon said the positive ratings actions from rating agencies last week were the "culmination of two years' work."

Wisconsin-based WPPI Energy will sell $180 million of new-money and refunding power supply system bonds to fund projects including environmental upgrades and transmission improvements.

Saginaw County, Mich. will become the first in the state to take advantage of a new law when it to comes to market next month with up to $75 million of pension obligation bonds.

Just days after Moody's boosted its outlook to positive, Fitch Ratings Tuesday upgraded Michigan to AA from AA-minus and Standard & Poor's lifted its outlook to positive from stable.

Fitch Ratings downgraded nearly $5.9 billion of Detroit water and sewer department revenue bonds two notches but they remain in triple-B investment grade territory.

Detroit activists filed a federal lawsuit against the state's new emergency management law Thursday, the same day the new law took effect.

Moody's Investors Service boosted Aa2 Michigan's outlook to positive, saying the state is rebuilding its reserves and should be able to withstand pressure from troubled local governments.

Moody's Investors Service last week confirmed its Baa3 rating on Memorial Healthcare and removed the rating from under review. The outlook is positive, Moody's said.

The Detroit Medical Center has dropped plans to build a $50 million outpatient facility in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak.

Michigan will likely have a federal health insurance exchange instead of a joint state-federal partnership after the state Senate last week recessed for spring break without meeting a federal deadline.

Detroit's new emergency manager began the job early Monday morning, meeting with the mayor and city council members and reiterating his agenda of tackling the city's debt, employee benefits, and city services.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson Friday traveled to Detroit to join local leaders in calling for mass civil disobedience against Michigan's takeover of Detroit and to announce a federal lawsuit expected to be filed next week.

A new report from Michigan State University finds that Michigan cities and towns have a combined other post-employment benefit liability of $13.5 billion – with more than 40% of that owed by Detroit.

County executives in southeast Michigan made their final appointments to a newly created four-county Regional Transit Authority.

Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillion could not pinpoint Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr's biggest challenge, but said reaction to Orr's appointment has been positive.

Standard & Poor's Friday boosted its outlook on junk-rated Detroit to stable from negative, saying the state's appointment last week of an emergency manager bodes well for the city's future fiscal position.

Michigan firm Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone PLC is expected to continue to serve as Detroit's local outside counsel as it embarks on a large-scale restructuring, with Ohio-based Jones Day serving as national restructuring counsel.

Gov. Rick Snyder Thursday appointed Jones Day bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr as Detroit emergency financial manager. Orr warned creditors that he's willing to use bankruptcy.

Louisville-based Hilliard Lyons hired a pair of Michigan public finance veterans by buying their firm Great Lakes Capital Markets as it continues to expand in the Midwest and Southeast.