Midwest

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon slashed $800 million in spending in the fiscal 2015 budget warning the cuts were needed to keep the budget balanced due to the threat that lawmakers might restore a series of vetoed tax breaks.

Investors were not reluctant to buy the Detroit name when the Michigan Finance Authority priced $185 million of bonds for the Detroit Public Lighting Authority Wednesday.

As Detroit has shown, the Chapter 9 world and the municipal bond finance world often just don't speak the same language, according to Nixon Peabody LLP attorneys.

Harvey, Ill. and its comptroller, Joseph T. Letke, are accused of misusing bond proceeds and misrepresenting investment risks in a civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that led to an injunction blocking an upcoming issue planned by the Chicago suburb.

The Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency is touting its strong financial profile and solid ratings as it prepares to double its debt load with a $320 million issue Thursday to finance a new hydroelectric plant that will bolster its renewable energy generating sources

Detroit Tuesday defended its proposal to take Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes on a bus tour of the city as part of the plan of confirmation trial later this summer.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Monday appointed a review team to begin investigating the finances of the troubled Benton Harbor school district, a step towards a possible state takeover.

Syncora Guarantee Inc. has accused Detroit of pitting its pensioners against its financial creditors in a "torches and pitchforks" campaign, the insurer's latest salvo in a rising war of words between the two parties.

The 2010 issuance of $165 million of Build America Bonds by Indianapolis' public hospital has thwarted a long-planned merger with another major Indiana system.

Three Detroit hospitals reached a final agreement to merge into a new $3.8 billion system that will be the largest in southeast Michigan.