Midwest

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard has proposed a constitutional amendment to require a structurally balanced budget every year and prohibit the state from issuing debt to cover operating expenses.

Moody’s Investors Service last week warned of a possible downgrade to bonds issued by the Central Plains Energy Project in 2007.

Standard & Poor’s has raised the rating on the West Plains Industrial Development Authority’s revenue bonds issued for the Ozarks Medical Center to BB-minus, three notches below investment grade, from B-plus.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded to A2 from A1 its rating on Maplewood’s multifamily housing revenue bonds for the Maple Ridge Apartments project, following a review of projected cash flows. The action affects $3 million of debt issued in 1996.

Fitch Ratings last week upgraded to AAA from AA-plus its rating on $60 million of ad valorem bonds issued by the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank, which functions as the borrowing arm of the triple-A rated Indianapolis.

Children’s Memorial Hospital’s plans to build a heliport on the roof of its partially bond-financed hospital under construction in downtown Chicago is being challenged by a community group.

The nation's largest nonprofit health care provider has extended its reach into the Chicago-area market with the acquisition of a suburban hospital chain.

The 10-member state-appointed financial review team that will begin digging into Detroit's finances next week is a diverse mix of high-profile state officials and local community leaders and businessmen.

Michigan-based Trinity Health, one of the nation's largest Catholic health care systems, will invest up to $150 million over the next five years as part of its acquisition of Mercy Health System if the deal is approved by an Illinois review board.

Michigan scored an interest rate of 0.24% on $3.32 billion of short-term, variable-rate bonds it priced Monday to pay off a mounting federal unemployment liability.