Michigan

The trial on Detroit's debt-adjustment plan adjourned after court-appointed finance expert Martha Kopacz testified that its plan to exit Chapter 9 bankruptcy is feasible.

More details on Detroit's crucial settlement with bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. emerged Tuesday, while testimony on the feasibility of the city's bankruptcy exit plan is expected to come Wednesday, the final day of the historic trial.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating on Detroit's $1.5 billion of certificates of participation to C from Ca, saying proposed settlements with insurers mean recoveries well below the Ca category.

A Michigan authority created to oversee the disbursement of nearly $200 million of state aid to bankrupt Detroit held its first meeting in Lansing last week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes is set to rule on Detroit's bankruptcy late in the first week of November, likely putting it past the state's gubernatorial election.

The board of Wayne County, Mich. has rejected a plan to move a half-built abandoned jail site in downtown Detroit, making it more likely the county will restart the controversial, bond-financed project.

Detroit's convention center is hitting the market Wednesday with $300 million of bonds that marks its first public offering since it was taken over by a regional authority in 2009.

Detroit reached a settlement with FGIC, the last major holdout creditor in its bankruptcy case, that gives the bond insurer a mix of cash and prime downtown Detroit land to build a new hotel and condominiums.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan hired former New York City budget director Carol O'Cleireacain as a deputy mayor. She will find new revenue, work on the city's emergence from bankruptcy and on the restructuring of its massive water and sewer department.

Officials in Wayne County, Mich., are contemplating the fate of a half-built, bond-financed jail in downtown Detroit that has been abandoned for more than a year amid major cost overruns and an FBI investigation.

Attorneys for bankrupt Detroit and bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Co. said in court that they plan to finalize an agreement by Thursday, a move that would mean the city would have support from all major creditors for its bankruptcy exit plan.

Though Michigan's largest city remains mired in a historic bankruptcy, fiscal conditions appear to be improving for many of the state's other local governments, according to a new report from the University of Michigan.

The new regional authority taking over Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department should be a positive for holders of existing DWSD debt, Moody's Investors Service said Friday.

A deal to create a new bond-issuing authority to take over the troubled Detroit Water and Sewerage Department advanced this week with the remaining counties approving the plan.

At The Bond Buyer's California Public Finance Conference, Schiff Hardin's Rick Frimmer discussed the implications of recent developments in municipal bankruptcy.

Moody's Investors Service warned Wednesday it may downgrade Detroit's Ca-rated certificates of participation, saying it expects to resolve the outlook when and if the bankrupt city settles with the bond insurer that wraps the bulk of the certificates.

The city of Detroit rested its case in the trial to decide if its bankruptcy confirmation plan will be confirmed after Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and City Council President Brenda Jones testified that they would work to support and implement its plan of confirmation.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc.'s settlement with Detroit was the focus of much of the testimony Friday during the federal trial on the city's bankruptcy exit plan.

The transfer of the Detroit Water and Sewer Department into a new regional authority advanced last week when the Wayne County board of commissioners approved the deal.

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr on Wednesday offered a glimpse into the city's high-stakes negotiations — and subsequent settlements — with bondholders during the course of its historic bankruptcy.