Northeast

The Democratic leadership of the Connecticut General Assembly has called for direct talks with Gov. M. Jodi Rell over the $500 million fiscal 2010 budget deficit.

Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri on Monday announced that Susanne Greschner will head up the Division of Municipal Finance. The unit is a part of the Department of Revenue.

About one-third of New York’s 114 industrial development agencies have joined in a lawsuit challenging assessments on their revenue by the state. Attorneys for the New York State Economic Development Council, a trade group representing economic development professionals, filed the action in state Supreme Court in Albany on Friday.

The New York Senate yesterday passed emergency spending bills to keep the government running as it appears inevitable the state will not have a new budget approved in time for the start of the new fiscal year on Thursday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority liked Build America Bonds so much that the majority of its debt issues over the past 13 months have been the new taxable bonds.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey plan to competitively sell $116.8 million of bonds on Wednesday to refund outstanding debt.

Public finance veteran Robert Foran will today be named the new chief financial officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Foran, 53, a public finance banker for nearly three decades, has been working with MTA since the 1980s and was a key figure in its $15 billion restructuring that began in 2002.

Moody’s Investors Service Thursday upgraded the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to Aa2 with a stable outlook from Aa3, citing its favorable financial results in tough economic times. The upgrade affects $12.4 billion of outstanding debt.

CHICAGO — Private-equity group Cerberus Capital Management LP yesterday said it would buy Boston’s nonprofit Cerberus Christi Health Care for $830 million, taking over the Catholic system’s long-term debt and spending $400 million on capital upgrades.

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver introduced a bill Wednesday to create a financial review board to oversee the state’s fiscal health and borrow up to $6 billion to close the deficit.