Economy

A Senate committee Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a bipartisan, $109 billion, two-year surface transportation bill that maintains current funding levels for highways and provides another $2 billion for a program that provides federal credit assistance for projects.

Standard & Poor's warned that retiree health care benefits are a growing burden for public universities.

Supervisors and workers in a signal construction unit at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Metro-North Hudson and Harlem commuter train lines have manipulated the payroll system by abusing overtime rules that inflate their salaries and pensions, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a forensic audit of overtime practices released Wednesday.

DALLAS - After issuing $1.3 billion of revenue bonds under its new special projects lien, the North Texas Tollway Authority has maintained its critical A-level ratings on its first-tier main system revenue bonds.

Wisconsin’s not-for-profit hospitals last year generated $28 billion in economic activity and provided $1.4 billion in community benefits, according to new studies.

Regional Health, the dominant health care provider in western South Dakota, will enter the market Thursday with $181 million of bonds.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last week the $1 billion reconstruction of the Chicago Transit Authority’s busy Red Line.

CHICAGO - Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health's possible acquisition of the stand-alone, 159-year-old Mercy Health System, based in Chicago, last week advanced when the two Catholic health care providers announced they had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to negotiate a union.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Saints Medical Center of Lowell to Caa1 from B1 after it and the for-profit Steward Health Care System of Boston ended their merger discussions.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service warned Thursday that Illinois' crackdown on the property-tax exemptions of nonprofit hospitals over the amount of charity care they provide could pose a credit threat to the sector here.

SAN FRANCISCO - California's plan for a bond-funded high-speed train system just got more expensive. Fifty billion dollars more expensive.

Santa Monica planned to sell $41 million of lease-revenue bonds this week to fund renovations of a parking garage to serve the city’s downtown shopping area and to refund existing bonds.

Adventist Health closed a deal Monday to take over the formerly bankrupt Sierra Kings Heath Care District’s Central California clinics and hospital.

CHICAGO - Two large Chicago-area health care systems announced Wednesday they have finalized a merger that will create the largest Catholic health care network in Illinois.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Broward County, Fla., has reached a milestone in its effort to move forward with an $800 million financing to support the $1.5 billion cost of a major runway extension and other improvements at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook on Mercy Hospital’s A2 rating to negative from stable due to a decline in operating performance.

Moody’s Investors Service last week affirmed its Baa2 rating on King’s Daughters’ Hospital and Health Services but revised the outlook to negative from stable, warning that the facility faces volume and operating pressures.

DALLAS - Arkansas will be able to repair and upgrade more than 400 miles of Interstate highway with proceeds from $575 million of Garvee bonds being decided by voters on Tuesday, up from earlier estimates of 300 miles.

CHICAGO - The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority plans to issue $14.4 million of bonds to finance a takeover of Toledo's parking system in a deal that gained final City Council approval last week.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington anti-tax and initiative crusader Tim Eyman has filed a lawsuit to try to void the state's $519 million bond deal for a floating bridge project.