Economy

CHICAGO — The Minnesota Nurses Association and 14 hospitals in the Twin Cities area reached an agreement late last week on a new contract, averting a threatened strike by 12,000 nurses that was set to start this week.

Bexar County commissioners will be asked to move up the sale of the fourth and final tranche of debt to finance Bexar County Hospital District’s ongoing expansion project of its facilities in San Antonio.

Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson joined other governors last week in support of a proposal to continue a $25 billion program of emergency federal aid to state Medicaid programs.

WASHINGTON — Airports would receive steady funding until August, and the federal government would reclaim $17.4 million of unused transit funding this fiscal year, if two separate bills approved this week by the Senate and a House committee become law.

WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s outlook was revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday, ahead of a $350 million revenue bond transaction it has scheduled for later this month.

Moody’s Investors Service Wednesday downgraded $2.68 billion of subordinate Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission bonds to A3 from A2 and assigned a negative outlook to the credit.

Congress’ failure to pass a six-month extension of enhanced federal matching funds under the Federal Medicaid ­Assistance Program will deprive states of billions of dollars in expected revenue, lead to drastic cuts in programs and result in the loss of thousands of jobs, 13 governors warned Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — About 30 states must revisit their fiscal 2011 budgets to compensate for the loss of expected enhanced federal matching Medicaid funds that were in a jobs bill Congress failed to approve last week.

The House yesterday unanimously approved legislation that would extend airport funding for one month and give airports the ability to collect passenger facilities charges, which they often use to repay bonds.

Flint’s McLaren Health System Corp. is hoping to move its Pontiac-based hospital to a medical park in nearby Clarkston, according to a report in Crain’s Detroit Business.

Standard & Poor’s upgraded the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center to A-plus due to its strong balance sheet.

Fitch Ratings stripped Bethesda Home and Retirement Center of its investment-grade rating, lowering the credit to BB-plus from BBB-minus due to its deteriorating balance sheet in 2008 and 2009. The action affects $2.6 million of bonds issued through the former Illinois Health Facilities Authority. The outlook was revised to stable from negative.

CHICAGO — As nonprofit hospitals in the Twin Cities brace for a threatened nurses’ strike, Moody’s Investors Service warned yesterday that a prolonged walkout could pressure some hospital ratings if already-thin operating margins are hurt by increased costs for temporary nurses and a drop in patient revenue.

New York State will pick up the debt-service tab for North General Hospital, which plans to file for bankruptcy, officials said Monday.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The public health care district in Marin County, Calif., regains control of the county’s largest hospital today, in a shift that is likely to presage a bond offering in coming years.

The Austin City Council voted last week to spend $100,000 to study how to finance an urban rail system that is expected to cost $1.3 billion.

Deb Miller, secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, last week said the federal stimulus program has created more than 3,300 transportation-related jobs in the state along with a total monthly payroll of some $4.4 million.

An interim draft report from a special committee looking at Arkansas highway financing includes an option for a 10-year, 0.5% sales tax that would back a bond program.

SAN FRANCISCO — If there are any solutions to the nation's persistent shortfalls in financing transportation infrastructure, they're more likely to come from the local level, according to members of an expert panel Friday.

Last year, Congress created the Build America Bonds program to spur infrastructure investment in our communities and to help thaw the frozen credit markets. We believe this program has been a great success and it should be made permanent, as currently considered by Congress, for the following reasons.