Economy

CHICAGO — Trinity Health Credit Group’s plan to buy Loyola University Health System should bolster the latter’s fiscal standing, though analysts say it’s too early to tell what impact the acquisition will have on Trinity’s balance sheet.

DALLAS — Texas transportation planning has shifted to the slow lane as state legislators seek record spending cuts and prepare to rewrite the law governing the Texas Transportation Commission.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Friday rejected, once and for all, $2.4 billion of federal funds for a high-speed rail project as the state Supreme Court unanimously refused to overturn his decision.

CHICAGO — A hearing set for next week on Chicago’s request that a Cook County Circuit Court judge dismiss an airline lawsuit that seeks to block $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport was pushed back a week as settlement negotiations continue.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett last week appointed six new commissioners to the board of the Delaware River Port Authority.

In the 1930s, motorists paid 50 cents to drive through the Holland Tunnel, and a night at the Hotel Chesterfield in Jersey City cost $2.50.

BRADENTON, Fla. — In an effort to convince Gov. Rick Scott that Florida’s high-speed rail project is viable and as risk-free to taxpayers as possible, mayors and prominent business groups said Thursday that a proposal is on the table that answers Scott’s concerns.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wants to write a second chapter for the popular Build America Bond program, by reviving the federally subsidized taxable bonds to specifically fund transportation projects.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Thursday called for an indefinite freeze of the health care subsidy for city employee retirees, and urged the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners to reject a proposed increase to retiree health care subsidies for sworn personnel.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Gov. Rick Scott told the Florida Supreme Court in a brief Wednesday that the decision to reject federal funds for high-speed rail rests with him and a petition to overturn his decision has come from “state senators whose policy preferences have not prevailed in the political process.”

DALLAS — Colorado’s Regional Transportation District should shelve plans to for a tax-hike referendum this year or risk rejection of additional funds to complete the FasTracks rail projects by 2017, according to an advisory group.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that he is open to interstate tolling, which could provide funds for the Obama administration’s ambitious agenda, as an alternative to raising the federal gas tax, the current source of revenues for most transportation projects.

CHICAGO — Bondholders owed more than $50 million by an Indiana hospital in receivership would receive a mere $3 million or less under a proposed sale of the facility’s most valuable assets.

Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell unveiled an analysis Tuesday showing the potential employment and economic growth offered by his $4 billion transportation spending plan.

Standard & Poor’s Tuesday raised its long-term rating to AA-plus from AA on the Columbus Airport Commission’s lease revenue bonds. The outlook is stable.

The Internal Revenue Service has notified the Montana Facility Finance Authority that it has closed its audit of $14.15 million of variable-rate demand revenue bonds issued in 2002 without any change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Two Florida senators, a Republican and a Democrat, filed a 281-page petition Tuesday with the state Supreme Court seeking an emergency ruling to block Gov. Rick Scott from rejecting $2.4 billion of federal funds for high-speed rail.

The Cincinnati City Council was poised to vote Tuesday on a number of changes to the city’s $2.1 billion pension system in an effort to tackle an estimated $1 billion shortfall.

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is accepting proposals for consulting services through Friday to aid the state as it considers shifting more of the costs for retiree health care to beneficiaries.

Court hearings on a lawsuit challenging Chicago’s authority to proceed with $3.36 billion worth of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport without airline approval have been pushed back due to ongoing settlement negotiations.