Pennsylvania

State officials filed an application Thursday in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania to vacate the receivership for capital city Harrisburg.

Harrisburg would exit receivership while remaining under state oversight under a plan by Pennsylvania officials.

A former Pennsylvania Turnpike worker pleaded guilty and received probation in a case the judge called an "offshoot" of a pay-to-play scandal.

New Mayor Bill Peduto is smart to delay Pittsburgh's request to exit a state oversight program for distressed communities, capital markets observers say.

The future of the Philadelphia School District's speculative-grade credit will be determined by four factors in the next six to 12 months, Moody's Investors Service said.

Former Lebanon, Pa., mayor Jackie Parker, will lead the nascent Harrisburg economic development team, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced in Pennsylvania's capital.

Unfunded pension liability, bond-rating scrutiny and election-year complexity hovered over Pennsylvania as state lawmakers reconvened.

Incoming mayor Eric Papenfuse, the face of Harrisburg, Pa.'s economic recovery, says he will will forgo an inaugural ball and get to work right after his inauguration.

Gov. Tom Corbett awarded City Revitalization and Improvement Zone, or CRIZ, program designations to Bethlehem and Lancaster, Pennsylvania's governor announced.

Gov. Tom Corbett abandoned his pursuit of a $34 billion Pennsylvania lottery privatization contract with Britain's Camelot Global.

Mark Schwartz, who represented the Harrisburg City Council in its failed bankruptcy filing, is suing Pennsylvania's capital city for nonpayment.

The closing of Harrisburg, Pa.'s financial recovery plan "is not the end of anything," according to state-appointed receiver William Lynch.

Standard & Poor's has upgraded Philadelphia's general obligation debt to A-plus from A-minus.

Proceeds from two bond deals designed to keep Harrisburg, Pa., out of bankruptcy fell "well within the range" of projected revenues, said receiver William Lynch.

The Harrisburg receivership team and many related parties anticipate closing a recovery plan aimed at keeping Pennsylvania's capital city out of bankruptcy.

Pension shortfalls are not math problems, but "complex challenges requiring thoughtful solutions, politically challenging to implement," PFM said in a report on the white-hot topic.

Final closing for the purchase of the Harrisburg, Pa., incinerator by Lancaster County is set for Dec. 23 after the agency sold about $130 million of bonds to fund the transaction.

New York-based attorney Kent Rowey, who advises on public-private partnerships said bond deals in Allentown and Harrisburg, Pa., "disappointed" him as P3 projects.

Pennsylvania's transportation bill is positive for the state and the Turnpike Commission, and could trigger a similar move to tackle pension liability, said Fitch.

Lehigh County Authority general manager Aurel Arndt says the award-winning water and sewer concession with Allentown, Pa., changes the face of P3 transactions.