Northeast

The Vermont treasurer's office recently accepted $282,056 in unclaimed property as a result of a breakthrough agreement with national insurance giant John Hancock.

The city that envelops it is a financial mess, but Harrisburg Area Community College had Standard & Poor's affirm its bond rating at A, with a stable outlook. "The Harrisburg name is not a taint on the credit quality of all related issuers," Janney Capital Markets said in a report.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the underlying general obligation rating of Lancaster County two notches to A1 from Aa2, affecting $268 million of parity and debt.

Nassau Off-Track Betting Corp. has filed an appeal in its prolonged legal fight with New York harness tracks, Newsday reported, quoting OTB officials.

Standard & Poor's has lowered the long-term general obligation debt of Amityville to A-minus from A, with a negative outlook.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority sold $900 million of future tax-secured, fixed-rate new money subordinate bonds on Wednesday. They consisted of $600 million of tax-exempt bonds, $200 million of taxable bonds, and $100 million of taxable qualified school construction bonds.

Fitch Ratings assigned a AA to the Maine Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority's $37.25 million of Series 2011C revenue bonds, which are expected to sell by negotiation this week.

The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority closed two bond sales on Nov. 3, and was able to make a third through a complicated maneuver.

Landmark pension overhaul legislation cleared Rhode Island's House and Senate finance committees in amended form Thursday night, and the General Assembly is scheduled to vote on the measure, proposed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and General Treasurer Gina Raimondo, later this week.

When Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor, Maine, scuttled plans to establish a research facility in Florida, several other states came banging at the door of the genetics research company. Connecticut won out.