Economy

Fitch Ratings last week affirmed its AA-minus on $1.8 billion of debt held by Catholic Health Partners, Ohio's largest health care system.

A judge ruled last week that several Kansas City, Mo. business owners behind a lawsuit challenging the legality of the funding mechanism for the city's proposed $102 million, two-mile downtown streetcar line don’t have to file a bond to proceed with their appeal.

Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service recently revised their outlooks on Methodist Medical Center of Illinois' rating to positive from stable in recognition of its improved operating performance.

Beacon Health expects strong investor response when it comes to market Wednesday with $157 million of AA-minus rated hospital bonds that marks the first borrowing for the newly created credit.

With new competition fast approaching, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is returning to the debt market to price $367 million of revenue bonds for its terminal renewal and improvement program.

Highmark Inc., which closed on a $604 million deal to take over teetering West Penn Allegheny Health System, is now under rating agency glare.

The Connecticut Bond Commission earmarked $11.7 million for two Department of Transportation projects at the Stamford train station and in four other communities.

Six months after announcing a proposed merger, Trinity Health and Catholic Health East said Thursday they've closed the deal, which will create the second-largest health care provider in the country.

The Columbia River Crossing project, a $3.4 billion replacement of the Interstate 5 bridge connecting Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, Wash., appears stalled unless Washington state lawmakers approve $450 million soon.

A Virginia Circuit Court judge has ruled that the financing mechanism of the Elizabeth River Crossings project in the southeastern part of the state is unconstitutional, calling into question the future of the multi-billion dollar public-private partnership and other Virginia P3s.

New York University's Mitchell Moss said tolling the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens borough would generate a reliable revenue stream for the debt-strapped MTA.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is conducting new environmental studies for the $802 million Monroe Connector/Bypass toll road for which much of the debt has already been sold.

Richland County, S.C., started paying an extra penny sales tax Wednesday, which will provide $1 billion for transportation projects over the next 22 years.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the bond rating of West Penn Allegheny Health System to Caa2 from Ca after Highmark closed on its $604 million takeover.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday became the third agency to withdraw its rating on $131.2 million of defaulted toll-bridge bonds issued by north Florida's Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority.

New York State legislators will meet Thursday with officials of SUNY Downstate Medical Center to discuss a sustainability plan for a Brooklyn hospital that had been slated to close.

A tax overhaul in Minnesota -- with infrastructure funding for the Mayo Clinic's plan to makeover its home city and a likely income tax increase to erase a deficit and generate more funding for schools -- is headed to a conference committee.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has introduced legislation to authorize $500 million of federal grant money for nationally or regionally important surface transportation projects.

The executive committee of the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which oversees the region's transit plans, voted last week to switch to a new funding formula that will mean the loss of significant funding for Detroit.