Industries

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith yesterday announced the launch of a working group that will push for the creation of a new federal "center of excellence" that municipal and state officials could consult for guidance on public-private partnerships.

The Weirton Municipal Hospital Building Commission’s $7.5 million of revenue debt was downgraded by Fitch Ratings on Friday.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to negative from stable on Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare’s Baa1 rating as a result of the hospital’s weakened credit profile. The action affects $502 million of debt.

Pennsylvania officials are debating whether to resubmit to federal officials an application to implement tolls on Interstate 80 or look to alternative revenue enhancers as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission continues its payments to the state.

DALLAS - The state Legislature's failure to approve $2 billion of bonds for the Texas Department of Transportation and uncertainty over the agency's future could force Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session, lawmakers said yesterday.

DALLAS - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said a more detailed business plan is needed for a proposed state hospital complex in New Orleans that would replace storm-damaged Charity Hospital.

WASHINGTON - State and local issuers could be awarded as much as $1.5 billion in discretionary grants, loans, and other credit assistance as early as this fall, under the new stimulus law.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's heavy reliance on debt to finance its capital program will put increased pressure on its operating budget, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a report yesterday.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Florida Department of Transportation yesterday said it had reached agreement on the business terms of a concession contract with the consortium Miami Access Tunnel to design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the $1.2 billion Port of Miami Tunnel project.

New York Gov. David Paterson yesterday created a board to oversee the development and implementation of public-private partnership demonstration projects.

SAN FRANCISCO - Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski plans to sign a transportation infrastructure package that will raise $300 million annually to pay debt service on bonds and to fund local spending on roads, bridges, and public transit.

DALLAS - The time line for building a toll-financed roadway along the Trinity River corridor in downtown Dallas got a 20-month setback Monday.

DALLAS - A local option tax for transportation projects in major urban areas appeared doomed Monday as this year's session of the Texas Legislature came to a close.

Congress should be careful when considering whether to legislatively require nonprofit hospitals to meet national minimum standards to remain tax-exempt, because the legislation could impose unfair burdens and costs and potentially damage the hospitals' bond ratings, an attorney warned earlier this week.

Officials last week cut the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s fiscal 2010 budget by $160 million to balance the spending plan.

Imagine Downtown Inc., an affiliate of the Atlanta Development Authority and Central Atlanta Progress, announced Tuesday that it had closed on the first New Market Tax Credits loan for Aerotropolis Atlanta, a project adjacent to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will include a regional job and retail complex.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York yesterday approved up to $1.27 billion of refundings of state-backed debt and took actions to deal with the downgrade of a liquidity provider used by some of its conduit borrowers.

DALLAS - The Lower Rio Grande Valley would get its first medical school under legislation awaiting Texas Gov. Rick Perry's signature.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., has introduced legislation to establish a National Infrastructure Development Bank that could issue "public benefit bonds" exempt from state and local taxes to finance infrastructure projects over the next 15 years.

New Jersey will offer in the next few weeks nearly $1 billion of refunding and new-money debt backed by the state.