Michigan

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 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.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has hired public finance veteran and former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch to act as senior financial advisor for a new financial review board that will oversee Detroit's finances as the city emerges from bankruptcy.

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.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Allen Park, Mich., and two former city leaders with fraud in connection with a municipal bond offering to support a movie studio project within the city.

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.

Midwestern voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of a handful of finance-related ballot questions and the leadership of eight states, including several where debate over fiscal pressures is taking center stage.

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.

A proposed $3 billion rapid passenger rail system in the Midwest would cut the five-hour train trip between Chicago to Detroit by almost two hours.

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.

The trial to decide if Detroit's bankruptcy confirmation plan will be approved closed with attorneys for the city defending its debt-adjustment plan as fair to creditors and capable of setting the city on a path to revitalization.

On the closing day of Detroit's bankruptcy trial, municipal research firm Municipal Market Advisors warned that the city may have just set itself up for another Chapter 9.

The Michigan Finance Authority sold $300 million of bonds for Detroit's convention center Wednesday, seeing yields on the tax-exempt debt ranging from 2.73% on 10-year maturities to 3.44% on 20-year maturities.