Minnesota

Minnesota Attorney General will hold hearings beginning next week to probe South Dakota-based Sanford Health's possible acquisition of Minnesota-based Fairview Health Services.

Minnesota is banking on electronic bingo games to bolster its pot of expanded gambling revenues needed to repay its $348 million share of borrowing for the new $900 million Minnesota Vikings professional football stadium.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday offered a revised two-year budget proposal that drops changes to broaden the state's sales tax, but leaves intact a proposed income tax increase.

Le Center, Minn.'s rating sunk further into junk bond territory following a downgrade Monday by Moody's Investors Service over is fiscal woes.

Minnesota's economic forecast brightened Thursday with new revenue projections adding $295 million to its surplus this year and chopping $463 million off the $1.1 billion deficit in its next budget.

Standard & Poor's dropped its rating Tuesday on Vadnais Heights to D on $25 million of lease-backed revenue debt issued in 2010 to finance a sports complex that it cut financial support to last year.

Mayo Clinic will return to the taxable market for the second time in six months as low rates coupled with freedom from tax-exempt compliance issues are proving too good of an incentive to resist.

Refunding opportunities fueled a 36.3% surge in bond issuance among Midwestern borrowers last year as the steadfastly conservative region shied away from adding new debt in favor of shoring up balance sheets.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton defended his dramatic and controversial tax overhaul as the most "balanced" means to put the state on a structurally sound fiscal path and called on critics to offer up an alternative.

Minnesota hospitals provided $509 million in uncompensated care in 2011, up from $496 million a year earlier, according to the Minnesota Hospital Association's annual community benefits report.

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic hopes to land $500 million of state bonding help over the next two decades to support a proposed $5 billion capital improvement and economic development plan that aims to both improve its own facilities and remake its home city.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton wants to overhaul the state's tax code, lowering but broadening the sales tax and raising income tax rates on top earners in his proposed $37.8 billion two-year budget.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency hits the market Wednesday with $75 million of tax-exempt homeownership finance bonds that marks its third use a mortgage backed pass-through structure.

Moody's has downgraded Rochester, Minn.'s electric utility revenue bonds to Aa3 as a lack of rate increases in recent years have made a dent in the utility's credit quality.

Moody's Investors Service called Minnesota's latest revenue forecast a positive for school district ratings as a budget surplus will allow the state to begin making good on about $1 billion in aid districts are owed.

The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority said it expects to break ground in October on a new on a new $975 million Minnesota Vikings stadium.

Minnesota expects to close out its current budget cycle with a $1.3 billion balance but faces headwinds going into its next two-year cycle with a looming $1.1 billion deficit.

Stiff competition with the private sector put bonds issued by the Minnesota city of Monticello to build a city-owned broadband network in default.

Minneapolis Special School District No. 1 won an upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service in recognition of its strong fiscal performance.

Just two weeks after receiving clearance from the state Supreme Court, Minnesota hits the market Wednesday with its $654 million tobacco refunding that marks its first formal use of an appropriation pledge.