Michigan

Detroit Public Schools last week launched a series of public tours and community meetings to showcase how it’s spending proceeds of a $500 million bond-funded capital improvement plan.

CHICAGO — Trinity Health Credit Group’s plan to buy Loyola University Health System should bolster the latter’s fiscal standing, though analysts say it’s too early to tell what impact the acquisition will have on Trinity’s balance sheet.

CHICAGO — Faced with the headline risk associated with ongoing reports over its fiscal struggles, Detroit Public Schools was forced to pay a steep premium Thursday on its sale of $231 million of short-term notes.

CHICAGO — A survey that included more than half of Michigan’s counties show they are struggling with unfunded other post-employment benefit liabilities of $3 billion.

After winning long-awaited approval from a bond insurer, Detroit Public Schools plans to enter the market Thursday with $231 million of one-year notes urgently needed to make payroll through August.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating to Ba3 from Ba1 on Garden City Hospital's long-term debt and said it will maintain its negative outlook even at the lower rating level.

Fitch Ratings last week revised its outlook to negative on Kalamazoo while affirming its AA-plus rating on much of the city's outstanding bonds.

CHICAGO — New Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder presented a $45.9 billion all-funds fiscal 2012 budget that features $1.8 billion in cuts and what the governor dubbed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s tax structure.

CHICAGO — Michigan would give emergency financial managers who are appointed to take over local governments the authority to terminate labor contracts under a proposed overhaul of the state’s main law for dealing with fiscally stressed credits.

CHICAGO — Detroit Public Schools’ emergency financial manager Robert Bobb is pushing Michigan lawmakers to enact a bill that would insulate a chunk of the district’s debt from bankruptcy to address concerns by the debt’s bond insurer.

CHICAGO — Michigan would issue nearly $4 billion of tax-exempt bonds to pay off a $3.7 billion obligation to the federal government for unemployment insurance under a proposal being considered by state Treasurer Andy Dillon.

CHICAGO — The Michigan treasurer this week will launch a new training program for would-be municipal emergency financial managers as the state braces for a rise in the number of fiscally stressed local governments.

CHICAGO — Pontiac, Mich., became Fitch Ratings’ lowest-rated U.S. city Tuesday after the agency downgraded the city’s general obligation debt to CCC.

CHICAGO — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, in his first state of the state address, revived a controversial proposal to create a public-private partnership to build and operate a bridge connecting Detroit and Canada — the nation’s busiest trade crossing.

CHICAGO — Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and other urban areas in Michigan have their share of problems, but failing special-assessment debt is not one of them.

CHICAGO — In a surprise move, the Detroit City Council effectively rejected a $60 million plan to rehab a vacant casino into a new police headquarters Friday — just three days before construction was set to begin and a month after the city sold bonds to finance the project.

CHICAGO — Sylvan Township, Mich., will likely need to impose a steep property-tax hike on its residents to cover payments on bonds that were issued to support a now-failed special assessment district.

CHICAGO — Veteran Michigan public finance official Gary Olson has left his longtime position as head of the Senate Fiscal Agency, and his counterpart in the House Fiscal Agency is considering retirement after helping lawmakers navigate what promises to be a rough budget-crafting session.

CHICAGO — The new owners of the Detroit Medical Center kicked off the first phase of an $850 million capital program Tuesday afternoon, four days after closing the long-anticipated acquisition.

Standard & Poor's said Wednesday it raised its long-term and underlying rating to AA-minus from A on the Chelsea District Library's outstanding general obligation bonds as a result of the Michigan library's recent strong financial performance.