Midwest

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels touted his legislative agenda — which includes a controversial labor bill — and his achievements during his eight-year tenure at his final state of the state address last week.

Former Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias has joined BNY Mellon’s wealth management business in the newly created role of senior adviser for strategic relationships.

CHICAGO — The trustee on $113 million of bonds that financed construction of the privately owned Branson, Mo., Airport opted not to nearly drain remaining reserves to make a Jan. 1 debt-service payment as airport operators struggle to bolster operations and stave off future bondholder enforcement actions.

CHICAGO – Illinois nonprofit hospitals say they provided $4.6 billion in charity care and community benefits in 2010, a number that has risen 26% in five years and is at the center of a debate that could lead to a legislative mandate on uncompensated services hospitals must provide to retain their tax-exempt perks.

A group of governments near Flint, Mich., hopes to solidify a plan over the next month to break away from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department and begin construction of their own bond-financed water pipeline to Lake Huron.

Bolstered by a rally in Treasuries that extended to municipals, Illinois captured its lowest true-interest cost on a tax-exempt bond sale in more than three decades, even with the stigma of being Moody's Investors Services' lowest-rated state.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced plans Tuesday for the use of up to $75 million of Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds to help finance a $95 million retail, hotel and office complex on a brownfields site adjacent to the Great Lakes Naval Station north of Chicago.

Longtime Milwaukee Comptroller W. Martin "Wally" Morics retired late last year, handing the reins of the office that manages the city's debt issuance to his longtime deputy Michael Daun until voters elect a new comptroller this April.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton set a deadline of Thursday for Minneapolis and Ramsey County to submit proposals for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium that rely on a mix of local, state and team financing.

A recently abandoned plan to build a light-rail line in Detroit won new life last week when the federal government agreed to give local officials 90 days to refine a less costly plan.