Economy

The Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority will refinance up to $12 million of tax-exempt debt into taxable bonds within the next two weeks to help cover operating expenses at the Hoboken University Medical Center in New Jersey.

CHICAGO — A Michigan-based hospital system today will begin converting $125 million in auction-rate debt into a variable-rate mode, while next week Ohio's Lake Hospital System will price nearly $190 million of variable- and fixed-rate revenue bonds, in a pair of transactions that will allow the systems to exit the troubled auction-rate market.

SAN FRANCISCO - A $5 billion bond measure that was financed by a T. Boone Pickens-owned firm has qualified for the California ballot in November.

CHICAGO The Illinois Finance Authority this week advanced borrowing plans for a handful of nonprofits including $125 million for Northwestern University, which is undertaking nearly $1 billion in campus improvements, and $180 million for Advocate Health Care Network to finance its acquisition of Condell Health Network.

CHICAGO South Dakota-based regional health care provider Avera Health plans to enter the market tomorrow to sell $140 million of variable-rate demand bonds, one of three transactions that will replace all of its auction-rate securities.

New York Gov. David Paterson yesterday appointed 12 members to a blue ribbon commission to study the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's funding problems.

DALLAS - Major trends are influencing Dallas Area Rapid Transit's $740 million revenue bond deal this week.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation last week released the names of eight firms interested in the state's first-ever lease of an existing toll road.

CHICAGO -Standard & Poor's Friday downgraded to B-plus the already below-investment-grade Ohio-based Forum Health in a two-notch cut that analysts said reflects the system's ongoing fiscal difficulties as well as a few new challenges.

ATLANTA - Fulton County, Ga., yesterday sold $120 million of tax anticipation notes - twice as much as in 2006 - to cover expenses at a time when cash levels are lower, due in part to the advance payment of an annual subsidy to the financially ailing Grady Health System in Atlanta.

DALLAS - The Texas Transportation Commission, one of the state's largest debt issuers, should be eliminated and replaced with a single commissioner who would report to a legislative oversight committee, according to recommendations from the state Sunset Advisory Commission.

DALLAS - Dallas Area Rapid Transit's upcoming $740 million sales tax revenue bond sale is getting decidedly mixed reviews, with one upgrade, one downgrade, and one agency maintaining the status quo.