Industries

CHICAGO - The Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority this week signed off on roughly $1.5 billion in bond sales even as the hospitals seeking debt indicated the timing of their transactions is uncertain amid the current market turmoil.

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will convene a forum here Monday to launch the development of a second economic stimulus package.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is eager to sell $350 million of new-money assessment bonds, once market conditions allow for the agency to issue long-term debt.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority plans to vote on its proposed toll hikes at a special meeting set for Friday, with those potential changes to take effect on or about Dec. 1, according to spokesman Joe Orlando.

The highway advocacy group Driving Louisiana Forward has launched an effort to boost state spending on road and bridge projects by at least $145 million a year.

CHICAGO - General Motors Corp. today will make a presentation to the Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System to try to persuade the pension board to loan the ailing automaker up to $500 million by investing in GM's prominent downtown Detroit headquarters.

DALLAS - Tarrant County, Tex., voters approved about $433.1 million of debt for new roads and criminal justice facilities in May 2006, but cost increases and credit market upheaval have kept most of the road projects on the shelf.

CHICAGO - Chicago would bar financial institutions from inclusion in city bond deals if they seek aid from the federal government's bailout plan but don't strictly limit executive compensation under an ordinance introduced yesterday to the City Council.

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors on Nov. 4 will ask voters to approve issuing $27.5 million of general obligation bonds. Proceeds would be used to make improvements to the Oktibbeha County Hospital.

CHICAGO - As local governments across the country struggle with rising fuel costs, Indiana is launching a gasoline and diesel fuel-hedging program designed to help its municipalities offset the growing expense.

Denver International Airport lost $12 million in the first six months of the year, despite rising revenue. The airport reported a $9.2 million profit for the same period in 2007.

SAN FRANCISCO - California officials appear to have received at least a temporary reprieve from the full scope of a federal court motion demanding $8 billion to implement a state prison hospital construction program.

After two years of debate on how to finance transportation needs, voters in Hays County south of Austin will decide whether to issue $207 million of road bonds.

CHICAGO - Chicago's chief financial officer called the $2.521 billion price a private consortium will pay to operate Midway Airport for 99 years a "good value" for the city that may not get any better even if delayed until the current international fiscal crisis subsides.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick last week called for dismantling the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and merging it into another state transportation agency. Meanwhile, one MassPike board member is calling for immediate toll hikes to help boost debt service coverage on $2.4 billion of debt.

WASHINGTON - Investors who bought $55.5 million of bonds to help construct the Glebe, an upscale continuing-care retirement community near Roanoke, Va., face major uncertainties with their investments after the facility defaulted on a $15 million bond payment in July because its revenues came in lower than anticipated.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office last week found that the Federal Aviation Administration did not have the legal authority to auction flight slots. The GAO’s decision handed a victory to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which had threatened to prevent flights from landing if they used auctioned slots.

Massachusetts’ landmark health care program will receive an additional $21.2 billion of federal reimbursement over the next three years, a $4.3 billion boost in federal funding.

LAS VEGAS - What is clear: the landscape for nonprofit health care financing has changed. What is not so clear: what that landscape will look like after the current credit crisis wanes, according to participants last week at The Bond Buyer's Nonprofit Hospital Finance Conference here.

The deep freeze that the primary market has endured the last two weeks may begin to thaw a bit this week, aided by the much-anticipated news on Friday that the House approved the $700 billion financial rescue plan. But some market participants said it was too early to expect new-issue business to bounce back quickly given that the nation's economic crisis is far from over.