Economy

CHICAGO - Wisconsin-based Froedtert & Community Health closes today on its $189 million refunding of variable-rate revenue bonds that shed the old debt's insurance from downgraded Ambac Assurance Corp. in favor of a letter of credit from U.S. Bank NA.

Survey results issued this week by transportation firm HNTB Corp. spotlights misperceptions about transportation finance.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission will consider increasing a pending $485 million road bond issue by $200 million to pay a hefty but fluctuating swap termination fee when it meets Thursday morning.

A bankruptcy judge last week approved the use of state grant money to defease $21.6 million of outstanding bonds issued by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York on behalf of bankrupt Victory Memorial Hospital in Brooklyn. The authority expects to defease the bonds on Aug. 1.

CHICAGO - Chicago Friday banked $1.15 billion when it closed on a 75-year lease of its parking meter system - the latest in a series of private concession deals involving city assets undertaken over the last four years.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority today begins a two-day pricing of $600 million of federal highway grant anticipation and reimbursement revenue vehicle bonds.

Work on San Antonio International Airport’s $525 million expansion program will slow down due to fewer passengers than expected at the facility.

New Jersey's largest health care entity, Saint Barnabas Health Care System, is in technical default on $768 million of debt issued through the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority due to shrinking liquidity.

Gov. Butch Otter says some higher taxes will be needed to fund improvements to Idaho’s highway system.

Standard & Poor’s Friday revised the outlook on the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to stable from negative and affirmed its BBB rating on the credit.

WASHINGTON - Growing mark-to-market liabilities for interest rate swaps are posing credit risks that could result in downgrades for some not-for-profit hospitals, higher education institutions, and other nonprofit borrowers, Moody's Investors Service warned in a report issued yesterday.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Municipal bond issuance in the Southeast last year took the largest tumble of any region in the country. Volume fell in all four quarters of 2008 as the credit crunch worsened and - as one financial adviser put it - the rules kept changing.

CHICAGO - Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and legislative leaders yesterday announced measures to trim about $700 million from the state's $5.7 billion, three-year budget deficit through spending cuts, a hospital assessment program that leverages more federal funds, and other maneuvers.

CHICAGO - A pair of recent surveys show that nearly half of nonprofit hospitals have postponed or significantly cut back on their capital budgets in light of economic woes, including increased difficulty in accessing the bond market.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Facing a deficit that could run $1 billion or more, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen Monday night told lawmakers he would delay submitting his budget until Congress passes an economic stimulus bill that's projected to bring the state more than $3 billion.

The University of Chicago Medical Center this week announced 450 layoffs of non-physician positions as part of a restructuring aimed at trimming $100 million in costs.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and officials from across San Diego County late Monday announced a $4 billion plan to renovate Lindbergh Field, the city's main commercial airport.

CHICAGO - A flood of refundings by Midwestern issuers looking to shed auction-rate securities and variable-rate bonds backed by downgraded insurers in the second quarter of 2008 couldn't compensate for a steep fourth-quarter drop-off in borrowing amid the economic and market turmoil of last fall.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee begins consideration today of a multiyear Federal Aviation Administration bill that would authorize $16.2 billion for bond-related airport grants.

WASHINGTON - The Senate yesterday voted 61 to 37 to approve its $838 billion economic stimulus legislation, setting the stage for House and Senate conferees to begin to resolve the differences between their two bills, including six differing bond-related provisions.