Midwest

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Wednesday night defended the state's expansion of its emergency management law for troubled local governments and urged legislators to address a steep road-funding shortfall and support a newly created educational authority that will take over the state's worst schools.

CHICAGO – Even with added revenue from last year's income tax hike, Illinois entered the new year with an estimated $8.5 billion in unpaid bills and pending Medicaid vouchers, employee health insurance payments, and other obligations.

CHICAGO — After more than a year of waiting out the market, Wisconsin's largest health care provider, Aurora Health Care Inc., this week will complete refunding plans put on hold amid rising rates in 2010 with the sale of nearly $400 million of fixed-and floating-rate bonds.

CHICAGO — Indianapolis is expecting an infusion of anywhere from $125 million to $400 million from hosting Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton proposed $775 million of general obligation borrowing to support a $1.5 billion capital plan with an emphasis on projects that spur economic development and improve public safety while creating more than 20,000 jobs.

Sioux Falls, S.D., is heading to market with a $119.2 million sales-tax-backed bond issue that marks the city's largest borrowing to date.

CHICAGO — Organizers of the move to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker filed more than one million signatures by the Tuesday deadline in their effort to force a special election for the first-term Republican governor.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton last week announced the creation of an advisory task force charged with coming up with ideas to raise revenue for road, highway and bridge projects.

Michigan has $632 million more in its coffers than expected as it heads into fiscal 2013, fiscal officials said Friday at the state’s biannual revenue estimating conference.

The Brighton Area School District has asked the state for permission to put an $88 million bond issue on the May referendum.