Midwest

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Grand Rapids, Minn.’s one notch to A2 due to credit challenges that include a tax base that is highly concentrated and dependent on one local corporation.

The chairman of the bond-issuing Michigan State Housing Authority is the target of several lawsuits adding up to more than $100 million, according to a report in the Detroit News this week.

Fitch Ratings downgraded $98 million of general obligation bonds issued for the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library to AA from AAA.

The Cook County, Ill., Board of Commissioners passed a $3.4 billion all-funds fiscal 2010 budget last week, marking the first time in 10 years that the board passed a budget before the end of the county’s fiscal year.

CHICAGO — The St. Louis convention center hotel complex now owned by bondholders formally asked late last week to extend the deadline for a payment in lieu of taxes it owes the city at the end of the year to help stave off a shortfall in working capital expected this winter.

CHICAGO — Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday accusing the three major rating agencies of colluding with banks and issuers of mortgage-backed securities by inflating ratings on the debt, leading to major market losses for investors like Ohio’s pension and retirement funds.

CHICAGO — Detroit hopes to issue up to $250 million of fiscal stabilization bonds — a move that would require a change in Michigan law — as part of Mayor Dave Bing’s plan to eliminate the city’s $325 million deficit and avoid running out of cash by early next year.

CHICAGO — The board of the Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois late last week approved the issuance of up to $166 million of bonds to free up federal capital funds to help trim a Chicago Transit Authority budget deficit and stave off a fare increase.

CHICAGO — The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority tomorrow enters the market with its second Build America Bond sale of the year — a $280 million revenue bond issue that marks the final borrowing needed for the agency’s five-year-old $6 billion rebuilding and expansion of the Chicago-area toll highway system.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings this week downgraded $572 million of sales tax-backed debt issued by Hamilton County, Ohio, as it faces a steep decline in the revenue source that funds general operations and its two major sports stadiums.