Minnesota

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Becker Independent School District 726’s general obligation credit by two notches due to its declining fiscal position. The rating was cut to A2 from Aa3 on $23 million of debt.

CHICAGO - The University of Minnesota Regents on Wednesday will sell about $82 million of debt, in a mix of taxable general obligation bonds and tax-exempt special purpose revenue bonds backed by a state appropriation, to provide financing for facilities in its Biomedical Discovery District.

CHICAGO - Minnesota lost its final triple-A rating Friday when Standard & Poor's lowered its rating one notch to AA-plus as it chided the state for its continued reliance on one-time financial maneuvers to deal with its budget deficit.

CHICAGO - The St. Paul Port Authority and a group of investors holding a portion of $51.7 million of defaulted industrial revenue bonds will ask a judge Thursday to preliminarily approve a proposed class-action settlement that could end five years of litigation over the fate of the long-troubled 876 Bond Fund.

CHICAGO - Minnesota will take bids Tuesday on $920 million of general obligation debt in a long-planned deal that grew as refunding opportunities arose and lawmakers approved additional public works spending as part of the budget deal that ended a partial government shutdown.

Minnesota Housing Finance Agency deputy commissioner and chief financial officer Patricia Hippe is moving on to the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority next month.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak this week proposed a 2012 budget that cuts spending and jobs to hold the city’s property tax levy steady while increasing debt issuance for street improvements.

CHICAGO - Minnesota has selected Barclays Capital to lead a team of eight underwriting firms that will bring the state's first ever tobacco bond sale to market this fall.

Minnesota last week completed its sale of $60 million of revenue bonds to raise funds for the ongoing construction of a statewide communications system known as the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response system, or ARMER.

Standard & Poor's this week upgraded Allina Hospitals & Clinics rating one notch to AA-minus due to its strong operations.

CHICAGO - With new budgets to fund and the start of the school year around the corner, the season of short-term borrowing is in full swing for Minnesota school districts grappling with heightened liquidity challenges following the state's adoption of a budget that further delays some aid payments.

Standard & Poor’s last week revised its outlook to positive from stable on Northfield Hospital’s low investment-grade rating of BBB-minus.

CHICAGO - Underwriters interested in participating in the financing team for Minnesota's proposed tobacco bond issues have until Aug. 24 to submit their proposals for review.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded multifamily housing revenue bonds issued by the Aurora Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Minn., for the Irongate Apartments Section 8 Assisted Project deeper into junk-bond territory.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service has raised its rating on the International Falls Economic Development Authority's $11.4 million of taxable lease revenue bonds that financed a new headquarters for National Parks Service at the nearby Voyageurs National Park now that the government is using the facility.

CHICAGO - Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed 12 budget-related bills Wednesday, paving the way for the state's sale later this summer of $600 million to $700 million of general obligation bonds for capital projects and the fall sale of tobacco bonds to help balance the new $35 billion budget.

CHICAGO - Minnesota lawmakers are expected to approve a new two-year budget in the coming days after Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders agreed to delay school aid payments and issue tobacco bonds to end a stalemate over $1.4 billion in spending that shut down state government July 1.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service this week said it views positively recent court rulings in Colorado and Minnesota dismissing litigation that challenged legislative cuts to retirees' pension cost-of-living increases, and expects the rulings will spur other states to act.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings stripped Minnesota of its coveted AAA rating Thursday, punishing the once flush state for political gridlock that has driven a reliance on one-time revenue gimmicks to balance recent budgets, and is also behind the current impasse over a $5 billion budget gap that has shut down state government.

As Minnesota entered its fifth day of a government shutdown, Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders resumed budget negotiations Tuesday as a bipartisan set of former state officials announced the formation of a group that will try to bridge the current political divide over a $5 billion deficit.