Industries

BRADENTON, Fla. — Financial closing on the $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project has been delayed at least a week so that Miami commissioners can act on a $50 million letter of credit at their next meeting on Oct. 8.

Atlanta officials last week said a preliminary assessment showed 474 homes were affected by recent flooding and approximately 1,900 residents sought some level of federal assistance.

Standard & Poor’s on Friday lowered its rating to AA-plus from AAA on various long-term bonds issued for the Nemours Foundation. Fitch Ratings on Sept. 21 dropped its rating on the credit to AA-plus from AAA.

DALLAS — A new report predicts a slower than expected economic recovery in Kansas unless the state can find additional revenues to finance its next 10-year transportation plan.

CHICAGO - A weak economy, slow housing market, and too much variable-rate debt took their toll on continuing-care retirement communities over the last year and are expected to continue to trouble the sector throughout next year, Fitch Ratings said in a report released yesterday.

DALLAS - Austin's plan to introduce commuter rail service to its northern suburbs is running nearly two years behind schedule, as the $105 million Capital MetroRail remains sidelined by technical snags.

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley yesterday recommended Terry Peterson - the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Housing Authority - to lead the Chicago Transit Authority board following public finance banker Carole Brown's departure.

SAN FRANCISCO - Fitch Ratings upgraded $3.8 billion of San Francisco International Airport revenue bonds to A-plus from A Monday, citing relatively strong performance during an economic downturn that has badly battered most of the nation's other airports.

WASHINGTON - Congress has until tomorrow, the end of the fiscal year, to approve a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded.

William Beaumont Hospital outside Detroit this week said it would cut 353 jobs, its third round of layoffs in a year.

The Flint-based McLaren Health Care System announced this week it would build a proton beam radiation therapy center, putting it ahead of five other systems that have battled for more than a year to be the first to build the potentially lucrative cancer center in the state.

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare last week announced its plan to sign an affiliation agreement with Lake Forest Hospital to form an integrated system.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Confusion continues to surround the $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel concession project, which was expected to reach financial close by Thursday.

The New York State Thruway Authority plans to refund $521.7 million of auction-rate securities this week with a retail order period beginning tomorrow and institutional pricing Thursday. The refunding will further reduce the state's outstanding ARS to $600 million.

WASHINGTON - Airports are likely to face financial difficulties into next year because, despite their successful efforts to stabilize their debt portfolios, they are expected to have a continued slump in airline passenger traffic, Fitch Ratings said in a recent report.

DALLAS - A year after issuing a record $5.3 billion of debt, the North Texas Tollway Authority is preparing a $343 million bond package that will tie up loose ends from its flurry of financing in 2008.

The head of the Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance said last week that options for providing at least $200 million of new money each year to the Highway and Transportation Department are becoming clearer.

Air travel may be down, but bonds sold to build a cargo facility at a New York City airport managed to pull up in time, according to Standard & Poor's.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation has set Thursday as the ultimate deadline for financial close on the state's most unique public-private partnership - the $1 billion Port of Miami Tunnel Project. But late last week several FDOT letters to Miami officials placed in doubt, once again, whether the nation's first P3 based on availability payments would come to fruition.

Senate staff and state officials worried during a conference here last week that legislation pending before the House Transportation Committee would go too far by creating a federal office with the power to reject public-private partnership agreements for highways that received federal aid.