Economy

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Kentucky General Assembly adjourned its special session Wednesday after plugging a $1 billion hole in the upcoming budget and creating a new bonding authority that will help the state finance some or all of its share of the $4 billion Ohio River Bridges Project.

SAN FRANCISCO — Orange County, Calif.’s John Wayne Airport is a bit of an oddball among airports. And it’s those differences that have helped it garner a rating upgrade that airport officials hope will portend a successful bond issue next week.

WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of a fatal subway accident here this week, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee has warned a transportation group that he may consider drafting legislation that would prevent tax-advantaged lease-back deals from blocking transit authorities from maintaining or upgrading their subway cars.

WASHINGTON — A Senate committee will vote during the week of July 20 on an extension to prevent the dwindling highway trust fund from going broke before Congress can pass a multi-year reauthorization bill, its chairman said yesterday.

The New York State Thruway Authority plans to issue up to $700 million of two-year bond anticipation notes to fund the remainder of its five-year capital program, the agency said yesterday at its monthly board meeting.

The Las Vegas Monorail Co. continues on its one-way journey toward default, according to Fitch Ratings, which Monday downgraded its underlying rating on the monorail operator’s first-tier debt to C from CC.

The House Transportation Committee's highways and transit subcommittee approved a bipartisan $450 billion multi-year transportation bill yesterday after members soundly rejected the Obama administration's plan to delay the process for 18 months.

DALLAS - A campaign by Golden, Colo., to discourage investment in a privately funded tollway on the city's periphery will not halt the project, an official with the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority said.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority could face an estimated $268 million termination payment to UBS Securities LLC on five swaps after Standard & Poor's yesterday downgraded Ambac Assurance Corp., which insures the derivatives, to BBB from A.

St. Louis this week released an addendum to the preliminary offering statement on an upcoming $230 million revenue bond sale for Lambert-St. Louis International Airport that includes an updated financial feasibility study following American Airlines’ announcement that it plans to cut 18 daily flights.

DALLAS - Louisiana State University System's governing board on Monday rejected a proposed management agreement for a new academic and charity hospital in New Orleans to avoid sharing power with Tulane University.

Standard & Poor’s last week revised its outlook on the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority’s AA-plus rating to stable from positive over the fiscal and capital pressures the system faces and the potential effect on future debt service coverage levels.

Assuming it is able to go forward, a $4.9 billion mega-project in Brooklyn will proceed in stages under a modified plan the Empire State Development Corp. adopted yesterday at its monthly board meeting.

WASHINGTON - The transportation bill scheduled for its first vote in a House subcommittee this week would drastically alter the ability of state and local governments to toll and enter into public-private partnerships by creating a federal office that would oversee and approve such actions for highways financed with federal aid.

CHICAGO - Former JPMorgan tax-exempt capital markets banking manager Mark T. Melio spent most of the last two decades building the nonprofit health care practices of JPMorgan and Goldman, Sachs & Co. - experience that's now a principal selling point of his new, national advisory firm focused on the struggling sector.

University Medical Center in Tucson opened a new emergency room last week, part of the hospital’s $200 million capital improvement program financed with proceeds from $137 million of revenue bonds sold in 2005 and another $55 million of bonds sold in March of this year.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is conducting audits of $38.2 million of revenue bonds issued by Howard County, Md., for a continuing-care retirement community and $49.3 million of revenue bonds issued by the Tompkins County, N.Y., Industrial Development Agency for Ithaca College.

In the first deal backed by a new payroll tax, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to go into the short-term market with up to $600 million of revenue anticipation notes, officials said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation Committee Monday unveiled a 775-page, multi-year transportation infrastructure bill that is to be voted on Wednesday by its transit and highways subcommittee.

Massachusetts lawmakers late yesterday voted to abolish the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority by the end of 2009 and create a new agency with bonding authority that would oversee most transportation programs in the state and take on MassPike’s $2.2 billion of outstanding debt.