Economy

The New York State Thruway Authority will initiate a new procedure intended to increase participation of minority-owned firms in underwriting when it goes to market with the sale of up to $1 billion of bonds next month.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow the commonwealth to extend its financial guarantee on $2.2 billion of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority debt - a move that would allow the authority to use the state's higher credit rating yet at the same time increase its outstanding bond obligation.

CHICAGO - Cleveland is expected to issue nearly $290 million of variable-rate airport revenue bonds today in a transaction that marks the city's last major refinancing in its months-long effort to convert all of its outstanding auction-rate securities.

CHICAGO - The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority yesterday approved three transactions tied to borrowers' efforts to exit the auction-rate market. They include a $152 million deal from Children's Hospital and Health System of Wisconsin Inc. that will mark the second use in the tax-exempt market of a floating-rate structure promoted by Goldman, Sachs & Co.

A DuPage County Circuit Court judge is expected to rule next week on whether Chicago can demolish about 500 properties in suburban Bensenville to clear the path for a new runway at O’Hare International Airport.

In another blow to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s plan to sell Detroit’s half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the City Council in Windsor, Ontario, last week instructed its top lawyer to halt negotiations after some Detroit council members said they still have doubts about the deal despite having voted in favor of establishing an operating authority.

In its push to gain federal approval to implement tolls on I-80, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission yesterday announced a proposed $2.5 billion capital plan to update 83% of the Interstate's roadway and replace 60 of its bridges over the next 10 years.

DALLAS - The Texas Public Finance Authority will give investors a chance to grab some of its general obligation debt this week as the agency issues $225 million of bonds for refunding and new money.

The Port of Galveston has secured a $28.1 million loan from the Texas Industry Development Loan Program for improvements that include a channel-deepening project and renovation of aging public docks.

The financial advisory firm Frasca & Associates LLC has added a banker and credit analyst to its team.

New York issuers will dominate the new-issue activity this week as both the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority come to the primary market amid an anticipated slate of $7.5 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

CHICAGO - Flint, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care Corp. will enter the market tomorrow with $204 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds in the first of two series that together will refinance all the system's so-called indexed put bonds as well as a portion of debt taken on with a pair of recent acquisitions.

The Senate is poised to consider legislation that would extend a Texas tolling ban through September 2009. The moratorium extension was added as an amendment to transportation and housing appropriations legislation that cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not given up hope on nearly $2.7 billion of capital projects that officials last month proposed delaying until the 2010-2015 capital plan.

The Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday unanimously approved transportation and housing spending for fiscal 2009, including full funding for the federal highway program plus $8 billion to shore up the ailing highway trust fund.

ATLANTA - North Carolina lawmakers have approved a roughly $22 billion budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year, which includes almost $900 million of borrowing.

CHICAGO - A gaming expansion bill - one of three funding sources for a $34 billion capital budget - failed during a special session of the Illinois House yesterday, one day after Gov. Rod Blagojevich sought to pressure lawmakers to pass the plan by vetoing $1.4 billion in spending from the fiscal 2009 operating budget.

CHICAGO -Fitch Ratings this week revised to negative its outlook on the U.S. health insurance and managed care sector.

CHICAGO - The University of Toledo will enter the market today with roughly $35 million of fixed-rate general receipts bonds in the first of two series that will refund recent notes used to take out all the system's insured variable-rate demand bonds.

The South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority is readying a $19 million deal for the Kershaw County Medical Center.