Economy

Sean Connaughton, appointed by governor-elect Robert F. McDonnell to be secretary of transportation, will be jumping into his new position a month after the Virginia Department of Transportation lowered its revenue estimates for fiscal 2010.

DALLAS — A joint Kansas legislative committee has passed along two versions of a plan for financing the state’s next 10-year transportation effort to the Legislature, which will begin its 2010 session on Monday.

What do you get when you mix a protracted recession with a series of overly optimistic projections and a credit guarantee from a borderline insolvent bond insurer?

CHICAGO — Standard & Poor’s has upgraded 10 local borrowers that have issued debt through the Michigan Transportation Fund — boosting most of them to top AAA marks— primarily due to high debt-service coverage.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded to Baa2 from Baa1 $8.95 million of debt issued on behalf of Memorial Healthcare, located in Shiawessee County between Lansing and Flint.

Standard & Poor’s last month revised its outlook to stable from negative on Decatur Memorial Hospital’s A credit due to the restoration of profitability.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation’s rating to A-plus from A in recognition of its sustained operating profitability and positive volume trends.

WASHINGTON — For cash-strapped state and local governments that have critical transportation infrastructure needs, but no money to pay for them, the coming year will be bittersweet.

Gary Dellaverson, chief financial officer of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, retired last week after 19 years at the agency.

WASHINGTON — The coming year could be fertile ground for public-private partnerships, especially in the transportation sector, but states and localities probably will have to go without federal help and enter deals cautiously so as not to kill public support for them, market sources say.

A Michigan state lawmaker representing Detroit introduced a bill that would establish a bond-issuing regional mass transit authority for his region.

Moody’s Investors Service last week upgraded to Aa3 from A1 debt issued on behalf of McLaren Health Care Corp., and revised the outlook to stable from positive.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded to A from A-plus roughly $1.24 billion of debt issued on behalf of the Indianapolis Airport Authority.

CHICAGO — Redwood Capital Investments LLC’s successful bid Wednesday to acquire most of bankrupt Erickson Retirement Communities’ assets did not include the Monarch Landing, Sedgebrook, and Linden Ponds facilities so the fate of their municipal debt now becomes the focus of a new round of negotiations.

CHICAGO — Redwood Capital Investments LLC’s successful bid Wednesday to acquire most of bankrupt Erickson Retirement Communities’ assets did not include the Monarch Landing, Sedgebrook, and Linden Ponds facilities so the fate of their municipal debt now becomes the focus of a new round of negotiations.

New Jersey Gov.-elect Chris Christie will take office next month, and along with confronting high property taxes, a heavy debt burden, and the issue of encouraging shared services at the local level, the new administration will face a transportation funding spigot set to dry up by mid-2011.

The Skokie, Ill.-based health care advisory firm Kaufman Hall & Associates Inc. will close out a busy 2009 with two new partners after promoting its head of the mergers and acquisitions group, Kit Kamholz, to the senior status and earlier this year hiring former banker James Blake.

Standard & Poor's revised Newport Hospital's outlook to negative from stable last week, citing an unexpected increase in operating losses. The change affects $24.9 million of bonds issued in 1999 by the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp. on behalf of the hospital. Standard & Poor's rates the debt A.

Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's revenue bonds and dedicated tax-fund bonds to negative from stable last week.

New York Gov. David Paterson doesn't want to cut capital spending, but delaying projects may be inevitable, he said in an exclusive interview with The Bond Buyer.