Economy

DALLAS — On the heels of a Fitch Ratings downgrade, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System plans to issue more than $1 billion of revenue bonds this week for operations in three states.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Stephen Goldsmith, a privatization expert, as his deputy mayor for operations.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority last week approved a revised $26.27 billion, five-year capital program at its monthly board meeting. The plan slashes $1.8 billion from an earlier proposal that Gov. David Paterson rejected last year as unaffordable. It now goes to a state oversight board for consideration.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation this week issued guidance on how state and local governments should apply for $600 million for projects under a competitive discretionary grant program.

States will likely face rising costs due to federal health care reform over the long term, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report released this week.

Smaller airports, transfer hubs, and airports with a large proportion of business from only one or two airlines will be most vulnerable if the remaining U.S. legacy airlines continue to consolidate, Fitch Ratings said in a report issued yesterday.

DALLAS — With its credit rating at the lowest rung of investment grade, Colorado’s E-470 Public Highway Authority has received a negative outlook from Fitch Ratings due to falling toll traffic.

DALLAS — Kansas lawmakers will consider a 10-year, $8.2 billion comprehensive transportation program that authorizes an estimated $1.7 billion of state highway revenue bonds when they reconvene today in Topeka to develop a budget for fiscal 2011.

WASHINGTON — Never before in the U.S. has there been such a push to develop high-speed rail, with Congress and the Obama administration providing funds and new programs that could ultimately get the trains up and running here as they are in other advanced countries.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook to stable from negative on health care provider Wheaton Franciscan Services Inc.’s BBB-plus rating due to its improved operating results. The revision affects bonds issued through the Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority in 2002, 2003, and 2006.

A deal that would give Detroit an $800 million boost advanced last week when the City Council approved a measure to create a tax-free zone at the Detroit Medical Center to pave the way for a for-profit health care group to take over the hospital.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority last week announced the creation of a transition team to advise the agency on its future direction.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has started doing its own forecasting for dedicated taxes after state projections have repeatedly come in below expectations, MTA staff said yesterday.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Friday announced it had slashed $1.8 billion from its proposed five-year capital plan in a bid to win state approval. Like an earlier proposal rejected last year by Gov. David Paterson, the slimmed-down $26.27 billion capital program has a $9.91 billion funding gap.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously voted to endorse Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s proposal to accelerate the region’s mass-transit capital plan.

New Jersey Department of Transportation commissioner James Simpson Thursday said Gov. Chris Christie’s administration is considering several options for replenishing the state’s Transportation Trust Fund.

Summa Health System, one of the largest health care providers in Ohio, is set to enter the market Tuesday with $175 million of new-money bonds.

CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority early next month will restructure about $100 million of its federal capital grant-backed bonds. The agency will avoid principal payments this year and next in order to accelerate capital spending and provide an operating cushion in case fiscal pressures mount.

CHICAGO — Several Midwestern recipients of portions of the $8 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked for high-speed rail lobbied for more funding to promote overall rail use and defended their projects’ lack of speed against Republican criticism during a congressional field hearing here Tuesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into an $83.3 million bond deal that Miami-Dade County sold last year on behalf of the county’s financially ailing Public Health Trust.