Industries

DALLAS — When the Texas Legislature convenes in January, the top priority is expected to be the estimated $25 billion budget shortfall and ongoing problems with education funding.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the underlying rating on Fresno’s $58 million of airport revenue bonds to BBB from BBB-plus.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority adopted a $12.08 billion operating budget for 2011 at its monthly board meeting Wednesday. The budget closes a projected $900 million deficit with a combination of fare and toll increases that go into effect on Jan. 1, labor concessions, efficiency savings, and recurring actions taken this year.

San Francisco officials are pushing ahead with a controversial plan to charge a toll to motorists entering and the exiting the city's downtown during peak hours.

With an eye on its credit ratings, the Delaware River Port Authority chose to keep in place a $1 toll hike Wednesday that was set to begin July 1 after weeks of debate on whether to delay the increase to 2012.

Tennessee Governor-elect Bill Haslam has selected Mark Emkes as commissioner of the Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the state budget and health care program.

The board overseeing the financing and construction of the new $1.2 billion public hospital in New Orleans to replace state-owned Charity Hospital has selected Kaufman, Hall & Associates as financial adviser for a proposed $400 million revenue bond issue.

Investors who own bonds issued by the bankrupt Connector 2000 Association Inc. toll road have tentatively reached an agreement with the issuer and South Carolina to exchange their outstanding debt for new bonds.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County is restructuring its management in the wake of a funding controversy involving light-rail expansion in the Houston area.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to issue up to $750 million of taxable Build America Bonds next week to fund capital needs in 2011.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Cullman ­Regional Medical Center in Alabama, has had its ratings dropped to below investment grade by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service about a year after refinancing all its bonds.

Massachusetts Wednesday will sell its first-ever Commonwealth Transportation Fund bond offering — $576.2 million of taxable debt to repair decrepit bridges.

New Jersey Transit last week hired Patton Boggs LLP to help the agency contest a $271 million repayment demand from the Federal Transit Administration for money it spent on a now-canceled commuter rail tunnel.

Honolulu’s plan to build and finance a 20-mile-long rail transit line is between $678 million and $1.7 billion short of what will be needed to finance construction.

State Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg Tuesday announced the appointment of Ann Rice to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority board.

CHICAGO — The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Tuesday will price a yet-to-be determined amount of refunding bonds to take advantage of the federal alternative-minimum tax holiday.

WASHINGTON — Federal transportation officials Thursday reclaimed $1.195 billion of high-speed and intercity passenger rail grants from Ohio and Wisconsin. The funds will be parceled out to several states, the U.S. Department of Transportation said after warning last month that incoming Republican governors in the two states must use the funds for rail or lose them entirely.

WASHINGTON — The $1.2 trillion continuing resolution the House approved Wednesday to keep federal agencies and programs funded through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 would increase funding for financial regulators and extend transportation and aviation funding as well as nuclear loan guarantees.

WASHINGTON — The Capital Beltway Funding Corporation of Virginia, the issuer for $589 million for the Capital Beltway expansion project, on Monday will sell refunding bonds to convert its debt to tax-exempt bonds not subject to the alternative minimum tax, taking advantage of the stimulus law provision ­before it expires at the end of the year.

Two bipartisan groups are pressing federal lawmakers and the president to get cracking on a solution to the funding crisis troubling the nation's transportation sector. They warned that Congress needs to find a new revenue source instead of leaning on proposals for a national infrastructure bank or increased privatization.