Economy

LOS ANGELES - Chapman University, a private university in Orange County, Calif., best known for its film, business, and law schools, wants to increase its health science offerings.

Wisconsin could finance much of an estimated $26.2 billion price tag for rebuilding and modernizing its currently free Interstate highway system by implementing tolls, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute

The board of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, the third-largest hospital system in the country, last week adopted a budget of $828 million.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Monday hosted a meeting with top airline officials to discuss the sector’s role in the city’s economy and how best to foster growth.

The Philadelphia Hospitals and Higher Education Facilities Authority will negotiate a $270 million sale of tax-exempt, fixed-rate bonds Thursday to benefit the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia project.

WASHINGTON - There are perceptible signs that a long-awaited surface transportation bill may actually be approved by Congress early next year.

DALLAS - Oklahoma would replace or rebuild 706 sub-par bridges on state highways by 2019 without raising taxes or fees under a modernization plan outlined Monday by Gov. Mary Fallin.

DALLAS - The Tomball Hospital Authority near Houston has called or defeased its $111.4 million of tax-exempt bond debt after the sale of the Tomball Regional Medical Center to for-profit Community Health Systems.

CHICAGO - The University of Minnesota Regents on Wednesday will sell about $82 million of debt, in a mix of taxable general obligation bonds and tax-exempt special purpose revenue bonds backed by a state appropriation, to provide financing for facilities in its Biomedical Discovery District.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Ten volunteers are interested in serving on the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority that oversees the defaulted bonds sold to build the 3.5-mile-long tolled Garcon Point Bridge in North Florida.

DALLAS - Two former aides to Texas Gov. Rick Perry now hold top positions at the Texas Department of Transportation after former energy lobbyist and secretary of state Phil Wilson was named the agency's executive director.

Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook to stable from negative and affirmed its BB-minus rating on the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp.’s remaining $12.7 million series 1998 revenue bonds, issued for Roger Williams Medical Center.

The City Council in financially strapped Harrisburg is considering a series of bills to increase parking revenue.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners advanced a capacity planning study that will deal with the five airports under its jurisdiction.

Standard & Poor’s raised its underlying rating on various bonds issued by the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority for Saint Barnabas Corp. to BBB from BBB-minus.

Fitch Ratings warned it may have to lower ratings on Garvee bonds if Congress only approves more short-term extensions of a surface transportation bill through 2012 instead of a multi-year bill.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Toll Authority voted Wednesday to try to buy an office building in San Francisco using bridge toll dollars despite a pending audit.

CHICAGO - Ohio State University's plan to privatize its parking system advanced this week when the school posted a request for qualifications for firms interested in the asset.

The capital program is the "front and center challenge" for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, outgoing chairman Jay Walder said Wednesday.

Health care investment banking shop Cain Brothers has hired a senior banker to help lead its distressed credit team.