Northeast

Fitch Ratings downgraded Chester Community Charter School’s revenue bonds to BB from BBB, bringing the Pennsylvania school’s rating to below investment grade.

Financially distressed Harrisburg, Pa., plans an eight-day auction of Wild West artifacts in mid-July, Mayor Linda Thompson announced.

The Nassau Off-Track Betting Corp. has agreed to pay harness horse-racing tracks to settle a long-running, multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature reached a general consensus on the coming year’s forecasted state revenues.

Todd Miles joined law firm Harris Beach as a partner in the public finance and economic development practice group along with the municipalities and quasi-governmental agencies team.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Simmons College’s Baa1 rating, and revised its rating outlook for the Massachusetts institution to positive from stable. The move affects about $182 million in debt.

The Maine Municipal Bond Bank is expected to sell about $17 million of sewer and water revenue refunding bonds under its wastewater state-revolving fund program on March 19.

When the Pennsylvania Economic Development Authority issued $107 million of debt in January to bail out defaulted bonds in connection with the 10-story Forum Place office building in Harrisburg, critics called it another incinerator-type fiasco in Pennsylvania's capital city.

The chairman and chief executive of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the timing is ideal for two bond sales in March, including a $400 million offering next week.

The state of Vermont is expected to bring to market a four-series $135.6 million general obligation offering next week in two parts.