Pennsylvania

Hurricane Sandy left major challenges for many municipal bond firms after the Financial District of Manhattan was hammered hard by the storm.

A court hearing on a dispute between Highmark Inc. and West Penn Allegheny Health System Inc. over their failed $475 million merger agreement will continue Thursday in Pittsburgh.

Fitch Ratings lowered West Penn Allegheny Health System's $737 million revenue bonds CCC from B-plus, citing uncertainty over its proposed Highmark affiliation.

Scranton, Pa., officials have asked a court to let it borrow an additional $9.75 million, citing the need to plug further unexpected gaps by the end of the year.

The Harrisburg, Pa., City Council cried uncle, doubling the city's earned-income tax to 2% in a move state-appointed receiver William Lynch had sought.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the long term rating of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education to Aa3 from Aa2, affecting $1.5 billion of debt.

The city of Philadelphia is expected to sell $71 million of water and wastewater revenue refunding bonds on Wednesday.

The sudden breakup of hospital operator West Penn Allegheny's affiliation with insurer Highmark heightens uncertainty over hundreds of millions in bonds in a turnabout driven by adulterous sex and violence.

The University of Pennsylvania's chief investment officer Kristin Gilbertson is stepping down after heading the endowment office since 2004.

Fitch Ratings downgraded $2.8 billion of Philadelphia School District and Pennsylvania School Building Authority bonds to BBB-minus ahead of a $300 million deficit bond sale.

West Penn Allegheny Health System countersued crosstown Pittsburgh insurer Highmark Inc. over the breakup of their proposed $475 million affiliation agreement.

Michigan's Trinity and Pennsylvania's CHE would create one of the nation's largest Catholic health care sytems spanning 21 states if their newly announced plan to merge goes ahead.

Insurer Highmark, which sued West Penn Allegheny Health System over their canceled $475 million agreement, announced a $65 million affiliation deal with Saint Vincent of Erie, Pa.

Potential liabilities from the Jerry Sandusky child molestations prompted Standard & Poor's to revise its outlook to negative on Penn State's long-term bond rating.

Officials from Highmark and West Penn Allegheny Health System spoke with an eye toward resuming talks about a $475 million affiliation agreement.

F. John White, managing director and chairman of Public Financial Management Group, was an inaugural recipient of a Fels Institute of Government Leadership Award.

Acting on an emergency basis, the City Council in cash-strapped Scranton, Pa., adopted a 1% commuter tax, which still needs approval from a Lackawanna County Court.

Roger Nutt will resign as chief executive of the embattled Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which the state auditor said was "drowning in debt."

Harrisburg, Pa. receiver William Lynch named an entity created by Guggenheim Securities to negotiate exclusively for a long-term lease to manage city parking garages.

Former Harrisburg, Pa., mayor Stephen Reed blamed initially low cost estimates for incinerator-related debt that ballooned into a $340 million debt crisis.