Midwest

Iowa lawmakers approved bills retiring $116 million of state debt and implementing a sweeping property tax relief package that could strain local governments.

Cincinnati-based Catholic Health Partners, Ohio's largest health care system, announced last week it is acquiring Kaiser Permanente Ohio, a northeast Ohio health plan.

Longtime Minnesota state economist Tom Stinson is retiring and will hand the reins of the post to economics professor Laura Kalambokidis in July, the Minnesota Management and Budget Department announced Monday.

Moody's Investors Service Monday affirmed its A2 rating on Bronson Healthcare Group and revised the outlook to stable from positive, saying the system has had softer operating margins following a 2011 merger and faces higher capital demands in 2013.

Standard & Poor's last week boosted its rating on Farmington Hills to AAA, making it one of only a handful of Michigan municipalities that carry the coveted top marks.

Standard & Poor's raised its rating on Des Moines Airport Authority by one level to A due to improved debt service coverage ratios.

Three years after asking the state for permission to file bankruptcy, the troubled Detroit suburb of Hamtramck stepped closer to state takeover Monday when Gov. Rick Snyder declared it to be in a state of fiscal emergency.

Fitch Ratings moved Monday to punish Illinois' inaction on pension reform during its legislative session by knocking its general obligation and appropriation ratings down one level and warning of the potential for further deterioration.

Bloomfield, a town of 41,000 about 10 miles outside of Detroit, is set to become one of the state's first local governments to take advantage of a new law allowing municipalities to issue bonds to pay off their pension liabilities.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's administration started the week bracing for further credit deterioration in response to lawmakers’ adjournment of their regular session without solving the state's pension crisis.