Economy

Highmark Inc. announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to affiliate with West Penn Allegheny Health System Inc.

A political action group has been established to oppose a plan to increase the Arkansas severance tax on natural gas that could be on the November 2012 ballot.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe used his Saturday radio address to ask voters to support a $575 million road bond plan in the Nov. 8 special election.

DALLAS - Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe urges voters in a 30-second television ad being aired statewide to renew a $575 million Garvee highway bond program at next week's special election.

With the appointments two weeks ago of Joseph Lhota and Patrick Foye as heads of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, respectively, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his own people in charge of the two major agencies.

CHICAGO - Cleveland Hopkins International Airport plans to price $75 million of passenger fee-backed revenue bonds Wednesday, its first new-money borrowing in 10 years.

Auditor general Jack Wagner called for increased investment in Pennsylvania’s crumbling roads and bridges, echoing suggestions made by Gov. Tom Corbett’s advisory commission over the summer.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $30.1 billion of outstanding debt contains about $5.2 billion of variable-rate debt, of which $3 billion is in synthetic fixed-rate mode achieved through interest-rate swaps, according to a derivatives portfolio report.

DALLAS - With financing already in place, the Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday agreed to begin seeking design-build credentials for an $815 million network of interstate highway interchanges and bridges in Dallas.

A new poll shows that a statewide ballot initiative to limit highway tolls in Washington has lost traction with voters, according to the Seattle Times.

Fitch Ratings downgraded more than $370 million of debt issued for Eisenhower Medical Center to BBB from A-minus.

San Diego-based Rady Children’s Hospital received an A-plus from Fitch Ratings on $150 million of bonds to be sold through negotiation the week of Nov. 7.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is said to be chugging ahead with an outside-the-box - and outside-the-state - proposal to further extend the No. 7 subway line to New Jersey, according to a New York Post report that said he will spend the next few months planning for it.

DALLAS - Two members of the North Texas Tollway Authority board are expected to submit resignations unrelated to a current Federal Bureau of Investigation probe of the board's business practices, according to reports.

CHICAGO - Reversing a recent decision, the Obama administration Monday said Ohio could use a small federal grant to finance Republican Gov. John Kasich's effort to privatize the Ohio Turnpike.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The North Carolina Turnpike Authority expects to move forward as soon as possible with the remainder of the financing for its second toll road following Tuesday's final judgment in a federal case that stalled the project for nearly a year.

Fitch Ratings last week affirmed its AA rating on $590 million of revenue bonds issued by the Ohio Turnpike Commission and revised its outlook to stable from negative.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to positive from stable on Minnesota’s HealthPartners Inc.’s A3 rating in recognition of its improved operating performance.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded the town of Port Huron in eastern Michigan to A-plus from AA-minus, affecting $24 million of general obligation bonds.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Transit Authority heads to market as soon as Wednesday with $456 million of sales tax revenue bonds and as much as $96 million of new-money and refunding capital grant-backed bonds to fund the purchase of rail cars.