Economy

DALLAS - A revised business plan for a proposed new medical center in New Orleans supports construction of the $1.2 billion facility, but indicates that the Louisiana Legislature will have to provide financial support to the bond-financed project.

CHICAGO - Joliet, Ill.-based Silver Cross Hospital and Medical Centerwon state regulatory approval this week to build a nearly $400 million replacement hospital a few miles from its current location while consideration of Edward Hospital's proposed new facility was again postponed by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.

CHICAGO - The Illinois International Port District should be dissolved and its operations handed over to Chicago because it has failed to promote maritime commerce and shipping activities and instead is focused on operating a golf course, the Civic Federation of Chicago urged in a report this week.

High gas prices are keeping motorists off Oklahoma’s highways, causing a dip in gasoline tax revenues at a time when construction costs are increasing rapidly.

Congress last week passed stopgap legislation that would extend through Sept. 30 funding for the Federal Aviation Administration that includes grants to airports for improvement projects. The bill was approved after lawmakers removed provisions that would have added $8 billion to the Highway Trust Fund.

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will complete the first phase of a $500 million debt program with a $100 million negotiated sale in early fall.

CHICAGO - Merrill Lynch & Co. has scooped up nearly 30 public finance bankers from the ranks of the now-shuttered municipal group at UBS Securities LLC - taking advantage of a "once-in-a-decade opportunity" as its Wall Street neighbors shed staff to cope with subprime market-related losses, the firm's municipal chairman said.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation is starting a new search for a concessionaire to become the first to lease an existing toll road in the state.

WASHINGTON - Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine's transportation plan died in the legislature yesterday after the House Rule Committee refused to let it come before the full House.

SAN FRANCISCO - Facing rising interest costs triggered by downgrades to Ambac Assurance Corp., the Orange County Transportation Authority is moving forward with plans to refinance toll revenue bonds it issued in 2003 to acquire toll lanes on the State Route 91 freeway from private owners.

DALLAS - RBC Capital Markets continued its efforts to increase the size and scope of its municipal finance health care group yesterday by bringing on board seven former Bear, Stearns & Co. bankers in that sector.

DALLAS - With the airline industry in turmoil, Denver continued to restructure its variable-rate debt with $85 million of revenue bonds for Denver International Airport yesterday.

CHICAGO - The push for light rail and commuter mass transit in southeast Michigan would receive a boost under a proposed bill that expands the state's tax increment financing law to include funding for transit systems.

The Louisiana Legislature approved a bill calling for a study on transferring New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport from local to state control before adjourning the 2008 regular session earlier this week.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation on Tuesday is holding a mandatory workshop in Jackson for all firms and consortiums interested in submitting qualifications to enter into the state’s first public-private partnership.

After the third day of a General Assembly special session, a bill from Gov. Timothy Kaine that would increase taxes and revive the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s ability to issue bonds has been bypassed by lawmakers in both the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and the Democrat-controlled Senate.

The nation should not continue to rely on gas tax revenues to finance transportation infrastructure needs because soaring gas prices will likely force consumers to drive less, resulting in less revenue coming in, Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday at a meeting here.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a surprise move last week vetoed a recent rule change approved by the state’s Certificate Of Need Commission that would have required hospitals to form a consortium to build a state-of-the-art new cancer treatment center.

DALLAS - The Dallas City Council is expected today to establish a local government corporation that would issue more than $300 million of lease revenue bonds to finance a six-year terminal modernization effort at Love Field Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration last week said it would lift flight caps at O’Hare International Airport later this year after Chicago opens the first new runway as part of a $7.5 billion expansion plan.