Industries

A group of Northeastern U.S. senators last week urged Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to direct $2.4 billion of federal high-speed rail funds to the Northeast Corridor line after Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejected them.

WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings warned on Wednesday that grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds, known as Garvees, face heightened uncertainty as Congress struggles to reauthorize transportation spending.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Sierra Kings Health Care District’s general obligation bonds to Baa3 from Ba2 after a federal judge ruled that GO debt service cannot be interrupted by the district’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing.

DALLAS — Colorado’s Regional Transportation District is putting off a decision on whether to ask voters for a sales tax increase to complete the $6.7 billion FasTracks rail plan by 2017.

Bonds issued by the Monongalia Building Commission on behalf of the Monongalia Health System in Morgantown have been upgraded to A-minus from BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced borrowing plans Tuesday for three central Illinois hospitals seeking to refund debt or raise funds for new projects, including $400 million for the Carle Foundation’s overhaul of its Urbana campus.

Cleveland Clinic chief executive officer and president Toby Cosgrove predicted the federal health care law would cost the prestigious facility $174 million in annual revenue beginning in 2015.

CHICAGO — Trinity Health Credit Group’s plan to buy Loyola University Health System should bolster the latter’s fiscal standing, though analysts say it’s too early to tell what impact the acquisition will have on Trinity’s balance sheet.

DALLAS — Texas transportation planning has shifted to the slow lane as state legislators seek record spending cuts and prepare to rewrite the law governing the Texas Transportation Commission.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott Friday rejected, once and for all, $2.4 billion of federal funds for a high-speed rail project as the state Supreme Court unanimously refused to overturn his decision.

CHICAGO — A hearing set for next week on Chicago’s request that a Cook County Circuit Court judge dismiss an airline lawsuit that seeks to block $3.36 billion of expansion projects at O’Hare International Airport was pushed back a week as settlement negotiations continue.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett last week appointed six new commissioners to the board of the Delaware River Port Authority.

In the 1930s, motorists paid 50 cents to drive through the Holland Tunnel, and a night at the Hotel Chesterfield in Jersey City cost $2.50.

BRADENTON, Fla. — In an effort to convince Gov. Rick Scott that Florida’s high-speed rail project is viable and as risk-free to taxpayers as possible, mayors and prominent business groups said Thursday that a proposal is on the table that answers Scott’s concerns.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wants to write a second chapter for the popular Build America Bond program, by reviving the federally subsidized taxable bonds to specifically fund transportation projects.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Thursday called for an indefinite freeze of the health care subsidy for city employee retirees, and urged the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners to reject a proposed increase to retiree health care subsidies for sworn personnel.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Gov. Rick Scott told the Florida Supreme Court in a brief Wednesday that the decision to reject federal funds for high-speed rail rests with him and a petition to overturn his decision has come from “state senators whose policy preferences have not prevailed in the political process.”

DALLAS — Colorado’s Regional Transportation District should shelve plans to for a tax-hike referendum this year or risk rejection of additional funds to complete the FasTracks rail projects by 2017, according to an advisory group.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that he is open to interstate tolling, which could provide funds for the Obama administration’s ambitious agenda, as an alternative to raising the federal gas tax, the current source of revenues for most transportation projects.

CHICAGO — Bondholders owed more than $50 million by an Indiana hospital in receivership would receive a mere $3 million or less under a proposed sale of the facility’s most valuable assets.