Midwest

Moody's downgraded Omaha's convention hotel to A1, warning that the city may be forced to step in to cover rising debt payments.

Chicago may share some of the same fiscal ills – from large pension burdens to budget deficits -- as bankrupt Detroit but they differ sharply when it comes to overall credit quality, Standard & Poor's stresses in a report released Thursday.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, in his first state of the city address, said the foundation has been laid for Detroit's revitalization as it moves through its historic Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Standard & Poor's affirmed ratings and removed from CreditWatch Detroit's distributable state aid bonds issued in 2010 and 2012 through the Michigan Finance Authority.

President Obama proposed a four-year, $302 billion surface transportation infrastructure construction and repair program.

Chicago will hold on to its A-plus rating from Standard & Poor's rating as it heads to market with a $400 million general obligation sale, its first since being hit with triple-notch downgrades last year by Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service over its pension crisis.

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.

The federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy case denied a request from major creditors, led by bond insurers, to slow down the city's fast-track schedule for approval of key bankruptcy documents.

The Kansas City, Mo. City council has approved a measure that requires any plan that calls for the demolition and reconstruction of terminals at city-owned airports to go to voters.