Midwest

The trustee for $39 million of bonds sold by Moberly, Mo., to help finance an artificial sweetener factory has joined with other creditors to pursue an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing against the Chinese company that abandoned the project and defaulted on debt payments.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating on Greene County's debt four notches and warned of further negative action due to the county's lack of adequate financial reporting.

Detroit's $500 million senior-lien water bond sale last week saw spreads as high as 178 basis points over the triple-A benchmark scale on the longer maturity serial bonds.

The latest revenue projections show Indiana could end the current fiscal year with a $1.8 billion surplus, an amount that would trigger an automatic refund to taxpayers under a new law.

A task force last week proposed a local income tax rate increase in the Indianapolis region to finance a $1.3 billion rail and bus system over the next 10 years.

Moody's Investors Service has lowered its rating to Baa3 from Baa2 on Anderson Hospital due to its weakened financial performance. The action affects $33.9 million of rated debt sold through the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said city departments have exceeded the $75 million budgetary savings goal he set for 2011 after taking office in May.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board has adopted a $609 million budget for 2012 that anticipates $200 million in toll-backed borrowing as the agency embarks on its $12 billion, 15-year capital program to maintain and expand the 286-mile system.

Days before the end of their 2011 session, Michigan lawmakers sent Gov. Rick Snyder legislation that would allow the state to issue up to $3.2 billion of bonds to cover its federal unemployment debt.

One day after Illinois lawmakers passed more than $300 million in tax relief to keep several companies from moving jobs out of the state, the top House Republican on Wednesday proposed legislation that would speed up the expiration of the corporate income tax hike driving company threats to flee.