Midwest

Standard & Poor’s last week upgraded the rating of West Chicago by two notches to AA-plus based on the city’s strong financial position.

Two rating agencies have revised Provena Health’s outlook to stable from negative ahead of its $126 million debt restructuring that took place on Monday.

CHICAGO — Purdue University in Indiana will enter the market today with $73.6 million of student fee bonds to refinance some of its variable-rate debt into a fixed-rate mode.

CHICAGO — Michigan would join a growing number of states allowing local governments to issue bonds to finance loans to residential and commercial homeowners for energy-efficiency upgrades under a bill being considered by a state House committee.

CHICAGO — Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm Wednesday night delivered her eighth and final state of the state address, saying 2009 was a dividing line after a “a decade of hell.”

BRADENTON, Fla. — The new bi-state authority created by Kentucky and Indiana to develop a $4.1 billion finance plan to build new bridges over the Ohio River met for the first time Tuesday in an organizational session.

CHICAGO — The potential sale of the smaller of two hotels that make up the bondholder-owned St. Louis convention center complex is advancing with the field of possible buyers now narrowed down to two.

CHICAGO — Illinois voters cast their ballots on Tuesday in the primary election for the November governor’s race, but the results remained murky yesterday with Gov. Pat Quinn leading his Democratic challenger by a narrow margin while state Sen. Bill Brady led the Republican field by an even slimmer number.

CHICAGO — The Ohio legislature yesterday approved a bipartisan measure to put a $700 million general obligation bond proposal on the May ballot to finance one of the state’s largest jobs program through 2016.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank will enter the market today with about $200 million of bonds, in the first of two borrowings that will finance construction of a new, $754 million safety-net hospital for ­Marion County.