PITTSBURGH — Health insurer Highmark plans to invest $75 million and assume $200 million in liabilities as part of a strategic partnership with a suburban Pittsburgh health care network — its latest move to grow a network to compete with the much larger University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Officials with Highmark and Jefferson Regional Medical Center, just south of the city, announced the deal Tuesday.

The medical center's flagship is a 373-bed hospital in Jefferson Hills, and it also includes outpatient centers in 10 municipalities south of the city, stretching to Uniontown about 40 miles away. Under the proposed partnership, the main hospital will get a new emergency department and expanded services, and its clinics will offer more services, including neurosurgery and gynecology.

Highmark's $75 million investment will go to the Jefferson Foundation — the charity that undergirds the health care network — increasing its endowment to $82 million to improve community health and wellness care.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state government now has the authority to make one of its largest, if not its largest, bond issues ever as it looks to pay off a nearly $4 billion unemployment compensation debt to the federal government.Gov. Tom Corbett signed the bill Tuesday.The borrowing is to be repaid by money from the debt payments that employers wouldn't have to send to the federal government.The Corbett administration says employers stand to save about $175 million to $200 million because the interest on the bonds would be less expensive than the interest on the federal debt.Meanwhile, the law also will extract more than $300 million in annual savings by narrowing eligibility for jobless benefits.

PITTSBURGH — The new head of Bayer AG's U.S. operations will take over July 1, but will be based in Whippany, N.J., and not the American subsidiary's headquarters in suburban Pittsburgh.Philip Baker is replacing Greg Babe, who is retiring effective June 30 as chief executive officer of Robinson Township-based Bayer.Blake already heads Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and his promotion means he'll also be the U.S. representative for all of Bayer HealthCare, which is consolidating its operations in Whippany.Babe, who is 54, joined Bayer as its first-ever intern at a production facility in New Martinsville, W.Va., and worked his way up through the ranks to become president and CEO in 2008.Blake formerly headed the German conglomerate's Canadian operations and has been with Bayer for 30 years.