Economy

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.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority is under fire from Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs for what she describes as an aggressive financing structure that backfired.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday he will schedule a vote the week of Oct. 31 on a bill that would provide $60 billion for transportation and infrastructure and authorize the establishment of a national infrastructure bank.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday named Madison Square Garden executive and former New York City deputy mayor Joseph Lhota to succeed Jay Walder as the chairman and chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

DALLAS - Some board members of the North Texas Tollway Authority appear to have conflicts of interest involving business ties or family members, but the agency lacks clear policies regulating the conflicts, according to a consultant's review.

SAN FRANCISCO - A California health care district is swaying once again on the edge of bankruptcy after emerging from Chapter 9 protection only three years ago.

Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating one notch on $35 million of outstanding bonds issued for Casa Colina Inc. and Affiliates to BBB from BBB-plus.

The Children’s Hospital of Orange County received A ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s on $105 million of fixed-rate bonds expected to sell on Oct. 24.

With the transportation sector highly correlated with the broader economy, airports are looking to gross domestic product and unemployment estimates to determine their own levels of performance.

Moody's Investors Service dropped the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority one notch to A2 on Tuesday, citing a lighter traffic outlook, reduced revenue support from the state, and deep exposure to variable-rate debt and swaps.

CHICAGO - The chair of a Senate subcommittee in Michigan Wednesday abruptly put off a key vote on a $4 billion, partly bond-funded bridge linking Detroit and Canada.

San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West, which operates 40 hospitals throughout California, Nevada and Arizona, is planning a $645 million new-money and refunding deal next week.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Hazelden Foundation’s A3 rating ahead of its upcoming $20 million sale of fixed-rate debt to finance various projects that will raise the prominent Minnesota-based treatment center’s debt load by 70%.