Ohio

Cuyahoga County, Ohio is bringing $230 million of low double-A rated certificates of participation to market Thursday for a 32-floor Hilton hotel located adjacent to the convention center in downtown Cleveland.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley last week unveiled a 2015 budget that includes his plan to transfer $100 million out of the city's retiree health care benefits account into its underfunded pension account.

For the third time since 2011, Ohio will be forced to dip into reserves to cover debt-service payments on its Buckeye tobacco securitization bonds.

A declining number of Midwestern high school graduates is adding to already highly competitive environment further straining the region's small colleges, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Ohio will issue nearly $1.9 billion in general obligation bonds over the next 10 years after voters approved the request in a Tuesday primary that saw the majority of borrowings in Ohio and Michigan approved by voters.

Officials at Ohio-based Promedica Health System Inc. said they would go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary after a federal appeals court ruled a merger with another local provider would be anticompetitive.

The Berea City School District in Ohio said that it can redeem $12.87 million of series 2009B certificates of participation designated as Build America Bonds because its subsidy payments were reduced due to sequestration.

KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. has hired Mark Fisher to serve as a managing director in its public finance group, overseeing business in Ohio and Michigan.

Genesis Healthcare, an already junk-rated two-hospital system located outside Zanesville, Ohio, was downgraded by Moody's amid weak cash-flow margins.

Standard & Poor's downgraded Cincinnati two notches to AA-minus, warning of a weak budget and high pension liability.

Cincinnati's new mayor wants the federal court to organize all the city's retirees and employees into a single class and hammer out a consent agreement in court-ordered mediation in order to deal with the city's growing pension headache.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has introduced a new two year capital bill that spends $2.4 billion for capital projects and relies on $2.1 billion of new-money borrowing.

The Kentucky House passed a bill that would ban the use of tolls for the $3.5 billion Brent Spence Bridge project being planned by Kentucky and Ohio, while moving ahead with P3 projects elsewhere in the state.

Ohio lawmakers Wednesday will begin to consider Gov. John Kasich's budget legislation that would cut income taxes $2.6 billion over three years and offset the costs with increases in taxes on tobacco, business, and oil and gas producers.

Ohio is selling $300 million of general obligation bonds and Gov. John Kasich is expected to unveil a new budget bill that features an income-tax cut on Tuesday

Two Cincinnati-based law firms -- Dinsmore & Shohl LLP and Peck Shaffer & Williams LLP – will merge effective March 1, the firms announced with the Dinsmore name carrying on.

Midwestern volume dwindled by 18.1 % in 2013 to $59.1 billion from nearly $72.2 billion a year earlier as rising interest rates sapped refunding opportunities and lackluster new-money issuance did little to offset the drop.

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley unveiled a plan for the municipal parking system that would keep the asset under city control as an alternative to a controversial proposal to lease it to the local port authority for an upfront cash payment.

Fitch Ratings dropped Cleveland's airport to BBB-plus with a negative outlook amid United's recent announcement it would drop the airport as a hub, and city and state officials scrambled to respond to the news.

Voters in Cuyahoga County will vote in May on whether to extend a pair of so-called sin taxes to raise badly needed new money for three sports stadiums located in downtown Cleveland.