Economy

Fitch Ratings has affirmed its AA rating and stable outlook on the Ohio Turnpike Commission ahead of an expected announcement by Gov. John Kasich of his plans to privatize the 241-mile toll road.

Miami-Dade County, Fla., this week prices the first of two deals that will bring nearly $1.5 billion of bonds to market within a month.

The Utah Transit Authority will complete financing for its 2015 rail projects and convert about half of its variable-rate bonds to fixed-rate in a $296.8 million deal next week.

The Arizona Department of Transportation said it will complete a route study for a commuter rail line linking Phoenix and Tucson.

Airports will continue to remain at risk for credit downgrades until passenger enplanements reach consistent growth of 3%, far above the flat-to-negative trajectory Moody's Investors Service expects.

The sudden breakup of hospital operator West Penn Allegheny's affiliation with insurer Highmark heightens uncertainty over hundreds of millions in bonds in a turnabout driven by adulterous sex and violence.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey authorized a $31.5 million rehabilitation of a taxiway at Newark Liberty International Airport.

WASHINGTON — Mileage-based systems could yield revenues between three and eight times higher than the gas taxes currently used to maintain the public road system and back bonds, the Congressional Budget Office found.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle Thursday unveiled a $2.9 billion spending plan that relies on the new federal health care law as well as a handful of new taxes to cure a $267 million shortfall.

Alaska voters decide on a $453 million transportation bond next month, though questions remain over a project at the Port of Anchorage that would receive $50 million in bond proceeds.

PortMiami's "Deep Dredge" harbor project will be mostly financed with bonds to ready the port for the Panama Canal expansion in early 2015. Miami-Dade County will pick up the federal costs to get the project done.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority unveiled a proposed $1.5 billion budget for 2013 that banks on $1 billion in borrowing to finance projects planned under the system's $12 billion capital program.

Spanish infrastructure investment giant Cintra will be the private partner on a more than $1 billion public-private partnership to develop the Route 460 Corridor project in southeastern Virginia, sources said.

West Penn Allegheny Health System countersued crosstown Pittsburgh insurer Highmark Inc. over the breakup of their proposed $475 million affiliation agreement.

Michigan's Trinity and Pennsylvania's CHE would create one of the nation's largest Catholic health care sytems spanning 21 states if their newly announced plan to merge goes ahead.

The Texas Department of Transportation will leverage a $5.6 million federal grant to conduct a study of high-speed passenger rail along the Interstate 35 corridor between Laredo, Tex., and Oklahoma City.

Insurer Highmark, which sued West Penn Allegheny Health System over their canceled $475 million agreement, announced a $65 million affiliation deal with Saint Vincent of Erie, Pa.

Indiana plans to tap a final team to partner on its half of the $2.6 billion Ohio River bridges project by mid-November and close the deal by the end of the year, officials said.

A report out this week estimates Michigan could save nearly $1 billion if it participates in the Medicaid expansion provision that is part of the new federal health care law.

Standard & Poor's last week revised its outlook to negative from stable on the Henry Ford Health System, one of Michigan's largest providers, while affirming its A rating.