Economy

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.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Georgia's State Transportation Board Thursday adopted a financial management plan to pay down an estimated $1.2 billion deficit at the Georgia Department of Transportation in order to balance the fiscal 2008 budget.

Proponents backing a sales tax increase in Sierra County to benefit New Mexico’s Spaceport America received a financial boost from Gov. Bill Richardson’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Another fare increase could be on its way for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority as it grapples with falling revenue and increased costs that are pushing $2.7 billion of projects into the 2010-2015 capital plan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Broward County, Fla., is working on a plan to refund up to $110 million of auction-rate securities and replace the debt with variable-rate demand obligations with a new, triple-A rated bond insurance policy.

CHICAGO — In its second refunding since mid-April, the Wayne County Airport Authority plans to enter the market Wednesday with roughly $330 million in variable-rate demand bonds that will take out all the authority's auction-rate debt.

WASHINGTON — Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine is hoping state lawmakers will embrace his transportation funding plan, which they will consider during a special session that begins today.

DALLAS — A year after completing its move to the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital campus in Aurora, Colo., the University of Colorado Hospital Authority will issue $92.6 million of variable-rate revenue bonds for construction and refunding.