Three stories making news across the Midwest today:

1. Investors withhold light-rail funds. A proposed light-rail line in Detroit is in jeopardy because a group of investors in the Woodward Avenue-area rail lack confidence in the project. A group of businessmen and organizations, M1 Rail, is threatening to withhold $100 million of the project’s $528 million cost, Crain’s Detroit Business reported this morning. M1 Rail says the current nine-mile route is not the best use of funding, nor financially sustainable.

2. Commerce Department launches pilot program. Cleveland and Detroit are among six cities selected for a pilot federal program aimed at sparking urban economic growth. Federal officials will work with local governments, the private sector and others to encourage economic growth and community development, the U.S. Commerce Department said. In a competition designed to spark innovation, communities could compete for economic assistance and federal grant money.

3. Illinois Supreme Court OKs public-works program. An Illinois law that allows the state to raise $31 billion in construction costs through taxes on liquor, candy and video gambling was deemed valid by the state’s supreme court today, our partner station WBEZ reported. A liquor distributor had filed a lawsuit, claiming the legislation violated a requirement that laws must be limited to only one topic.