Midwest

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday turned to outside the state's borders to tap Charlotte, N.C., housing official Charles Woodyard as the new chief executive officer of the Chicago Housing Authority.

CHICAGO - The St. Paul Port Authority and a group of investors holding a portion of $51.7 million of defaulted industrial revenue bonds will ask a judge Thursday to preliminarily approve a proposed class-action settlement that could end five years of litigation over the fate of the long-troubled 876 Bond Fund.

CHICAGO - Holders of $18 million of unrated debt issued for a large suburban Cincinnati mall are working to extend a forbearance agreement with the project's owners, who have failed to make debt service payments on the bonds since 2008.

CHICAGO - Minnesota will take bids Tuesday on $920 million of general obligation debt in a long-planned deal that grew as refunding opportunities arose and lawmakers approved additional public works spending as part of the budget deal that ended a partial government shutdown.

CHICAGO - A new independent study on a controversial plan to build a publicly funded bridge in Michigan says proposed bond covenants would protect state taxpayers if toll revenues fall short of expectations, but that interest rate costs could push the price tag past $4 billion.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to positive from stable on the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics’ A1 rating due to its improved fiscal performance.

Moody’s Investors Service last week affirmed its Aa2 on Nebraska’s outstanding certificates of participation, which are issued to finance a variety of leases and equipment purchases for state agencies.

U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke last week offered a bill that would require all federal taxes paid in Detroit to be reinvested back into the city for the next five years.

Members of the Michigan Legislature’s Senate Economic Development Committee said they would extend a series of hearings on whether to advance a plan to build a $3.8 billion, publicly funded bridge spanning the busy trade route between Detroit and Canada.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is expected to hand over management of a high-profile, $528 million light-rail project to the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.