Economy

WASHINGTON — The president is expected Wednesday in Cleveland to announce details of a $50 billion measure that would lead into a long-term program containing a national infrastructure bank — a proposal already offered by the administration but now being rolled out as part of an economic package.

DALLAS — The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority will build two new streetcar lines with proceeds from the upcoming negotiated sale of $75 million of sales tax revenue bonds.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Alaska’s state airport authority will sell $174 million of tax-exempt paper next week to pay for debt refunding and runway repairs, according to a state official.

The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois board has elected John Gates Jr. to serve as its new chairman, filling the vacancy left by Jim Reilly who resigned in May to serve as the special trustee overseeing reforms at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority.

WASHINGTON — Transportation stakeholders expecting a comprehensive bill anytime soon could be disappointed as major legislation reauthorizing federal highway and transit programs could be delayed until 2013, sources said last week.

Fitch Ratings last week upgraded the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to AA from A-plus, affecting $327 million of outstanding debt.

The Delaware River Port Authority on Thursday announced a hiring freeze and said it will cut next year’s budget by 2%, or $2.6 million, to reduce the bi-state agency’s spending.

CHICAGO — Detroit-area hospitals plan to spend up to $1.3 billion on capital projects over the next several years in the hopes of creating a medical industry to help replace the city’s vanishing manufacturing base, according to a new report.

The New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority on Thursday approved a $1.4 billion new-money and refinancing deal that will most likely include taxable Build America Bonds.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has delayed for a month oral presentations in the selection of underwriters and swap counterparties, the agency confirmed Wednesday.

Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating to BB-plus from BBB-minus on bonds issued by the Chatham County Hospital Authority on behalf of Memorial Health University Medical Center Inc.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Atlanta announced a lease agreement with airlines Tuesday that should enable the city to move forward with a long-awaited financing for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

DALLAS — Less than two months after a record $1.5 billion deal, the Texas Transportation Commission is preparing another $1 billion issue of general obligation bonds.

Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania agree that the state needs a long-term transportation funding strategy, but have yet to find consensus on how the state should pay for roads, bridges, and public transit.

Public finance attorney Kenneth Lind was made partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, the firm announced Tuesday. Lind has served as bond counsel at the firm’s New York City office since leaving the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority in January 2008, where he had been acting finance director.

CHICAGO — A month after winning city and county approval to sell its water and sewer system, Indianapolis stands poised to enter into a 50-year lease of its parking meters in exchange for cash and a piece of the annual parking revenue.

Moody’s Investors Service this week downgraded the underlying rating of Marietta Area Health Care to Ba2 from Ba1. Washington County issued the debt on behalf of the hospital.

Moody's Investors Service Monday downgraded Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts to Baa1 from A3 as the health care provider plans to increase its debt load dramatically to help finance a new patient tower. The outlook is stable.

The Kansas chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses said last week it was "shocked and disappointed" at a city's imposition of a transportation utility fee on property owners based on how much traffic the property generates.

CHICAGO — The last time Nebraska issued bonds to finance highway projects was the summer of 1969. But five years of falling road revenues have prompted lawmakers to give borrowing a fresh look.