Economy

CHICAGO — The Illinois ­Finance Authority board yesterday signed off on more than $1 billion of borrowing, mostly on behalf of nonprofit hospitals seeking to enter the tax-exempt market before the end of the year.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded Winona Health Obligated Group’s debt one notch to BBB-minus — just one step above junk status — due to ongoing operating losses.

The Chicago Transit Authority’s proposed $1.3 billion 2010 budget received the endorsement of a local government finance watchdog group for tackling its revenue shortfall with cuts and fare increases.

WASHINGTON — Market participants are pushing for states or the federal government to take a “programmatic” rather than a piecemeal or project-by-project approach to financing infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

DALLAS — As the nation’s port business drifts at low tide, Corpus Christi, Tex., is preparing for better days with a $250 million mixed-use container terminal financed through a public-private partnership.

Standard & Poor’s yesterday upgraded to BBB-plus from BBB $503.9 million of University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey debt that is backed by unlimited student fees. The outlook is stable.

DALLAS — A decade after Austin-Bergstrom International Airport opened for business, it is keeping the light on for a super low-fare carrier that might want to use its no-frills South Terminal.

The Puerto Rico Public Private Partnerships Authority will pull together a team of advisers to assist it in implementing P3 transactions and releasing requests for proposals related to specific assets.

DALLAS — Public transit agencies will be hard-pressed to maintain existing systems while extending service to new areas during difficult economic times without additional sources of revenue.

Bonds from the Southern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will not be affected by a workers’ strike that halted Philadelphia’s subway and bus service beginning early Tuesday morning.

bus system.Prendergast comes to the MTA from the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, Vancouver’s mass transit system, also known as TransLink. He served as CEO since July 2008. Prior to TransLink, he had helped oversee infrastructure projects at Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc..

Pharmaceutical maker Theragen Inc. defaulted on outstanding Series 2005 bonds last week as Bank of Oklahoma NA, the trustee for the debt, announced that the company did not meet principal and interest payments due Nov. 1.

DALLAS — The $8 billion in federal stimulus funds earmarked for high-speed rail development in the United States is the first installment of a program that could reshape the nation’s transportation options as significantly as has the interstate highway system.

DALLAS — The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program is likely here to stay, though it is unclear how much funding it will receive in the future, federal officials said here yesterday.

The Bay Area Toll Authority this week began public hearings on proposed toll increases on seven state-owned toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday issued one-notch downgrades to bonds issued by Palomar Pomerado Health, a hospital district in San Diego County.

CHICAGO — The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority will head into the market this fall with the sale of up to $300 million of toll-backed revenue bonds in a deal that will mark the final financing planned for its five-year-old $6 billion capital program.

Pushing principal and interest costs out to future years has weakened the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s balance sheet, with an independent report released yesterday estimating the mass transit agency faces a cumulative structural deficit of $1.19 billion by fiscal 2014.

CHICAGO — Voters in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan were in the mood to say yes Tuesday, approving bond issues for a new hospital in Indianapolis, a capital improvement plan for Detroit Public Schools, and a measure allowing casinos to set up shop in Ohio’s four largest cities.

Kentucky’s appointees to a bi-state authority that will determine how to finance the $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges Project have been announced by Gov. Steve Beshear and Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.