Economy

Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP has named Irene Walsh as managing director and head of its U.S. infrastructure and project finance advisory practice, while also hiring James Ziglar Jr. as a senior vice president.

CHICAGO - Fitch Ratings this week lowered its rating to A-minus from A on roughly $215 million of outstanding debt issued for the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport as the airport faces impending service cuts by its largest carrier, Delta Air Lines Inc., which is merging its operations with Northwest Airlines Corp.

DALLAS - A Sunset Advisory Commission vote to abolish the Texas Transportation Commission - the largest issuer of state debt in Texas - sets up another legislative showdown over highway funding when lawmakers convene in Austin next month.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has raised its proposed compensation to Louisiana for hurricane-related damages to Charity Hospital in New Orleans to $150 million from an initial $23 million.

Gov. Charlie Crist has been asked by Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz to reconsider the Florida Department of Transportation’s decision not to close the deal on the $1.2 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., was reported yesterday to be President-elect Barack Obama's pick for Secretary of Transportation, surprising experts in the field who had thought other candidates were more obvious choices for the post.

Yeshiva University's tax-exempt bonds have been hammered this week as the private, nonprofit university acknowledged potential losses in an investment scheme and a shrinking endowment.

CHICAGO - The Minnesota Metropolitan Airports Commission will hold a special meeting next week to discuss a tentative agreement that would allow Delta Air Lines Inc. to close its former Northwest Airlines Corp. headquarters in Eagan without triggering the immediate repayment of $245 million of debt.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey both passed their 2009 budgets yesterday, but their fiscal circumstances couldn't be more different.

CHICAGO - As unlikely as it may seem, Michigan can provide something of a model for states facing revenue and job losses stemming from a deteriorating U.S. automobile industry, Moody's Investors Service analysts said yesterday after releasing a report on the likely impacts from the fallout.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will begin searching for a new transportation secretary after Bernard Cohen on Monday resigned from the post.

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission last week approved spending up to $9 million to hire nine engineering consulting firms to ensure that $180 million of road projects would be ready to go out for bids quickly if Congress approves an infrastructure stimulus package in January.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation on Friday suddenly pulled the plug on the long-awaited $1.2 billion Port of Miami tunnel project and said it would not close on the state's largest pubic-private partnership with the consortium known as Miami Access Tunnel.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is looking for swap counterparties that it hopes will be able to take over derivative contracts with a subsidiary of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the agency said yesterday.

DALLAS - Louisiana's constitutional limit on annual debt service may derail Gov. Bobby Jindal's plans to use the proceeds from $400 million of revenue bonds to finance the proposed new $1.2 billion Louisiana State University teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans.

CHICAGO - Following a sharp spike in downgrades among not-for-profit hospitals over the last two months, Moody's Investors Service warned that the sector is increasingly struggling with a number of internal and market-related pressures.

Lawmakers last week conducted a second public hearing on Massachusetts’ transportation financing woes and Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal to consolidate existing authorities.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last Monday won another round in an ongoing fight to stop the Bush administration from auctioning flight slots at its airports when the U.S. Court of Appeals granted it a stay.

WASHINGTON - To fill the void left by bond insurers, highly rated states and authorities should consider providing a temporary guarantee or credit enhancement to lower-rated issuers that cannot access the municipal market at reasonable rates for transportation projects, market participants said at a conference here last week.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed a record $3.3 billion of capital spending in 2009 as part of a $6.71 billion preliminary budget released yesterday. Slightly more than half of the capital program would be financed through bonds and notes.