Midwest

Missouri local governments' penchant for negotiated sales over competitive bidding resulted in an estimated $43 million in higher costs over a four-year period, state auditor Tom Schweich concluded.

The new mayor of Cincinnati, bond attorney John Cranley, is halting two controversial bond-funded projects, including one for which the city has already sold general obligation bonds.

A state-run board Tuesday approved Gov. Rick Snyder's push to lease Belle Isle, Detroit's biggest park, for up to 30 years, killing an alternative 10-year lease proposed by the Detroit City Council.

American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. settled an antitrust lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice, clearing American's path to exit bankruptcy and repay its municipal bondholders.

The Illinois Finance Authority is selling $134.5 million of top-rated state revolving fund bonds in a deal that marks the state's first SRF borrowing in nine years and ushers in an expanded $1 billion loan program.

Washington, D.C., and Detroit have the strongest funded pension plans, with Chicago the weakest, Morningstar Inc. said in a research report.

Jackson County, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax hike aimed at raising $800 million over the next two decades to fund the establishment of a new research institute.

Moody's Investors Service has revised its outlook on the University of Chicago Medical Center's Aa3 rating to negative over declines in is operating margins over the last two fiscal years.

Standard & Poor's has revised its outlook on Chicago-based Presence Health Network's BBB-plus rating to negative from stable over its operating losses.

A majority of St. Louis convention center hotel bondholders who took ownership after a bond default agreed to a deal to sell the larger of the complex's two hotels.