Economy

DALLAS — As Denver International Airport embarks on the largest expansion project in its 16-year history, it’s benefitting from surging passenger levels and an improving economy that yielded a new traffic record in 2010.

Gov. Pat Quinn last week signed Medicaid reform legislation aimed at saving Illinois at least $624 million over five years.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $51 million of auction-rate securities that were issued in a conduit deal in 2005 by the Orange County, Fla., Health Facilities Authority to current-refund bonds and finance a hospital project.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia expects to issue $81.7 million of federal highway grant anticipation revenue bonds on Wednesday in a deal that was delayed from December at an additional cost to the district of about $2 million.

A ceremony last week in San Antonio celebrated the beginning of a $900 million expansion of University Hospital, which is being financed with help from a $751.2 million debt program authorized in 2008 by Bexar County commissioners.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority has hired Parsons Brinckerhoff to do a year-long study of high-capacity transit options to shuttle workers and tourists to and from the city’s busy downtown business and entertainment districts.

Philadelphia International Airport plans a $5.2 billion expansion project that would include about $4.2 billion of borrowing to help finance an increase in capacity. Officials also would like to improve the facility’s on-time record, especially during bad weather.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York gave final and preliminary approval last week to nearly $600 million of bonds.

New Jersey is seeking underwriting services as the state’s Transportation Trust Fund Authority plans to issue $600 million of tax-exempt, new-money bonds by April 15 to help finance roads, bridges, and public transportation.

CHICAGO — Chicago has backed off from its plan to sell $1.1 billion of O’Hare International Airport bonds next week as it fights a lawsuit filed by the airport’s two largest carriers challenging its authority to finish work on an $8 billion expansion plan without airline consent.

CHICAGO — Three weeks after the Federal Trade Commission sued Promedica Health System, arguing it violated antitrust rules, the Ohio-based hospital chain is keeping a $249 million new-money deal on hold.

Attracting private-sector investment is a key element to building a high-speed rail system in the Northeast, witnesses and Congress members said Thursday at a hearing in New York City.

Moody’s Investors Service is considering downgrading the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey because of its need to continue borrowing money to finance transportation projects even as toll collections and airport fees grow slowly.

New Jersey Transit formally rejected a $271 million repayment demand Tuesday from the Federal Transit Administration, which is seeking to recover funds allocated for a canceled $8.7 billion mass-transit tunnel.

The Georgia Department of Transportation has named three consortiums seeking to bid on the Atlanta Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal project.

Clarian Health, Indiana’s second-largest health care provider, officially renamed itself Indiana University Health this week to emphasize its partnership with the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Without more revenue, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will exhaust its capacity to bond for new projects after 2014, MTA officials said Monday.

CHICAGO — Attorneys for Chicago and O’Hare International Airport’s two largest carriers will return to court next month as a standoff over the final phase of an $8 billion expansion plan continues.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Los Angeles County has withdrawn from the California Statewide Communities Development Authority, the state’s largest conduit issuer.

CHICAGO — Things could be looking up for nonprofit health care, though the outlook is less positive for the troubled senior-living sector, according to a pair of 2011 outlook reports Fitch Ratings is poised to release Monday.