Midwest

The Ohio Department of Transportation warned it was going to have to slice its budget and delay some projects by up to 20 years due to insufficient funds.

Minnesota’s not-for-profit hospitals provided 27% more charity care in 2010 than in 2009, according to the community benefits report released last week by the Minnesota Hospital Association.

Fitch Ratings last week affirmed the CCC rating but revised the outlook to positive from stable on Pontiac, a Detroit suburb that is under emergency financial management.

Moody’s Investors Service last week upgraded to Baa2 from Baa3 its rating on Ball Memorial Hospital, affecting $101 million of bonds.

Illinois legislative leaders last week completed their appointments to a special pension reform panel convened by Gov. Pat Quinn.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings hit St. Louis' public transit agency with a downgrade late last week as it continues to work on details of a debt restructuring and reduction plan planned for next year that would bolster its long-term fiscal health.

Ohio has reached an agreement to privatize its lucrative liquor distribution system for $1.4 billion through a newly created private nonprofit entity that will use the revenue for economic development.

CHICAGO — Less than a year after opening, Michigan's largest film studio reportedly is in danger of missing its Feb. 1 debt service payment.

CHICAGO — Missouri, a rare issuer, will enter the market with two refundings totaling $500 million later this year to generate both ongoing present-value savings and up-front savings that are built into Gov. Jay Nixon's proposed $23 billion fiscal 2013 budget.

The investor who holds $46 million of defaulted bonds issued by a Wisconsin tribe is taking aim at the financial and legal firms on the deal, accusing underwriter Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and bond counsel Godfrey & Kahn SC of misrepresenting the bonds' validity.