Economy

CHICAGO — Blaming a bad housing market and the failure to reach an agreement with bondholders, an Ohio senior-living facility that missed its most recent debt-service payments filed for Chapter 11 protection last week.

In a recent report affirming the Birmingham Airport Authority's A-minus rating, Fitch Ratings said that it would be evaluating the potential effects of surrounding Jefferson County's bankruptcy filing.

WASHINGTON — States are facing a "big squeeze" of slow economic growth, the need for increased spending on Medicaid and other programs, the loss of federal funds and requests for help from cash-strapped local governments, two groups said in a report released Tuesday.

CHICAGO — As market participants digested the news of American Airlines' Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing Tuesday, airports stressed their ability to withstand any potential impact while tax-exempt investors reached out to bankruptcy attorneys to gauge the strength of their holdings.

LOS ANGELES — Though the San Diego Association of Governments has encountered a few wrinkles during due diligence, the agency is on track in its proposed $345 million purchase of a bankrupt toll road from a private operator.

CHICAGO — Six months after a devastating tornado destroyed its competitor's facility, Freeman Health System in Joplin, Mo., will come to market next week with $25 million of bonds, primarily to fund additional beds needed to meet a surge in demand for its services.

Moody's Investors Service last week affirmed its Baa1 rating on Summa Health System in Ohio.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Hospital Sisters Services Inc.'s rating by one notch to A1 due to sizeable operating losses at the Springfield, Ill.-based system.

Amid major redevelopment projects at large airports in Texas, aviation bond issuance there is running at the highest level since 2003, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

The Southern California Logistics Airport Authority is facing a bond default because it cannot make a $10 million debt service payment due Thursday because of the legal uncertainty surrounding California redevelopment agencies.

Arizona’s State Transportation Board has adopted a blueprint outlining the projects needed over the next 25 years to keep pace with the state’s growing population.

CHICAGO - Ohio has picked KPMG LLP as lead advisor for a proposal to privatize the Ohio Turnpike.

BRADENTON, Fla. - A newly appointed member of northwest Florida's Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority has filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing what he calls trading irregularities in some of the agency's $116 million of defaulted bonds.

Proponents of a measure to increase South Dakota’s sales tax to fund K-12 and Medicaid said they have gathered more than twice the required signatures to put it on next year’s ballot.

Moody’s Investors Service placed Cleveland-based MetroHealth System on watch list for potential downgrade due to a decline in financial performance through the first nine months of fiscal 2011. The credit is rated A2.

LOS ANGELES - A judge rejected the Las Vegas Monorail Co.'s third amended plan to exit bankruptcy on Friday even though 97% of the bondholders voted in favor of it.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has floated a plan to issue $750 million of bonds backed by the city's share of money from a countywide transportation sales tax to repair a quarter of the city's streets in two years.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans plan to soon introduce a five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that would be partly paid for by revenues from expanded domestic energy production, Speaker John Boehner announced Thursday.

A parcel tax that will help the struggling Doctors Medical Center stay afloat passed with nearly three-fourths of the vote on Tuesday.

Fitch Ratings assigned an A-plus rating Monday to a $147.9 million refunding planned by Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.