Missouri

Missouri officials made their pitch Friday to keep the St. Louis Rams in town, unveiling plans for an open-air, nearly $1 billion National Football League stadium partially financed with borrowing.

More questions over whether the National Football League's Rams will remain in St. Louis were raised Monday by reports that the team's owner is planning to construct an 80,000-seat stadium in southern California as part of a larger development project.

Missouri's proposed $2 billion upgrade of I-70 could be funded by tolling the 200-mile link between Kansas City and St. Louis.

Missouri has lowered by more than $300 million the level of revenues expected in the current fiscal year, Gov. Jay Nixon announced.

Missouri hospitals reported providing $588 million in charity care and another $512 million in uncompensated care last year, the Missouri Hospital Association said in a report.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster sued 13 St. Louis County municipalities Thursday alleging violations of a state law that limits how much money they can make from court-related traffic fines.

Ferguson, Mo.'s use of reserves to paper over budget deficits prompted a warning from Moody's Investors Service that the city's Aa3 rating could face a downgrade.

Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich last week announced guidelines for his planned audit of 10 municipal court systems that includes Ferguson amid growing public and legislative concerns over abuses.

Seven St. Louis County local governments, including Ferguson, face litigation challenging the legality of their municipal court fees.

Squeezed for funds to finance transportation projects, Missouri is eyeing tolls to improve and expand Interstate 70.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon tasked a newly formed commission with advising him on social and economic policy changes in the aftermath of violent protests in Ferguson Missouri sparked by the police shooting of an unarmed civilian.

Missouri will offer its first new-money sale in seven years with its top ratings intact as analysts say it's too early to tell whether a newly approved constitutional amendment or tax cut package will undercut state finances.

Bruce Cole, the head of Mamtek USA, the firm that triggered Moberly, Missouri's default on $39 million of municipal bonds sold for a failed sucralose plant, received a seven year prison sentence for theft and securities fraud.

The Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission won upgrades from two rating agencies for its debt issued for the Plum Point coal-fired power plant ahead of a planned $200 million refunding.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has tapped to civic leaders to lead a review of stadium options aimed at keeping to the National Football League's Rams in St. Louis.

Missouri-based Mercy Health will sell $355 million of revenue bonds as soon as Tuesday to cover the costs of various projects including the ongoing construction of a replacement hospital for one destroyed by the May 2011 Joplin tornado.

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.

The University of Missouri Curators sold $150 million of new-money taxable bonds Monday with tentative plans to return the market next year to fund another $100 million in approved projects.

The long saga over the fate of $98 million of defaulted St. Louis convention center hotel bonds is nearing an end with the trustee planning to make a final distribution payment of $1.4 million to bondholders next month.

Standard & Poor's dropped Higginsville, Missouri's 2010 sewerage system revenue bonds down three notches to the lowest investment grade level Wednesday over its weakened fiscal position.