Yvette Shields

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel scored a major legislative victory with the state House’s overwhelming bipartisan approval of legislation designed to stave off looming insolvency for two of the city’s pension funds.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed legislation that would give Chicago Public Schools $215 million toward pension contributions, a move that potentially slaps the cash-strapped district with a big budget hole to fill.

Chicago wrapped up its second billion-dollar airport deal within a month at a price that displays how much the market has changed in that short time.

The Chicago City Council signed on a new special use tax-increment financing district designed to help leverage $1.1 billion in federal funding for Chicago Transit Authority rail transit improvements.

Chicago's effort to right its fiscal path remains an uphill battle, according to expert panelists convened by the City Club of Chicago.

Veteran public finance banker Warren “Bo” Daniels Jr. has rejoined Loop Capital Markets to lead the firm’s efforts in Georgia and neighboring southern states from a new Atlanta office.

Legislative backers of Chicago’s funding overhaul of its municipal and laborers’ pension funds expect a vote in the final days of the General Assembly’s veto session after dropping language from the bill that would have subordinated pension contributions to bond repayment.

Joining the crowd of borrowers, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission plans a $438 million deal next week, marking its first new money sale in four years.

A second rating agency has dropped Chicago-based Roosevelt University into junk territory over as enrollment struggles and a heavy debt load strain its balance sheet.

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. LLC’s construction and cash flow troubles led Fitch Ratings to downgrade deeper into junk almost $1.2 billion of project bonds that are now under an Internal Revenue Service cloud.

Rosemont, Ill. took a one-notch credit hit from Moody’s Investors Service as it prepares to take on more debt to finance a new minor league stadium.

Chicago-based Mesirow Financial has added three new members to its public finance team in the Chicago office.

The Federal Trade Commission’s heightened scrutiny and challenge of not-for-profit healthcare mergers may not change much under a Trump administration, law firm Holland & Knight says a report.

The Chicago City Council unanimously approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.2 billion 2017 budget, which funds the hiring of hundreds of new police officers and taxes disposable bags to help close a spending gap.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration released sobering fiscal projections Wednesday that show the state’s bill backlog could top $47 billion in fiscal 2022 if lawmakers don’t resolve a political stalemate and make progress on balancing the books and reforming pensions.

Cook County, Ill., commissioners signed off on a $4.9 billion 2017 budget that relies on spending cuts and a new sweetened beverage tax to erase red ink due in part to growing debt service and pension expenses.

Illinois lawmakers returned to the capital for the start of a six-day veto session that includes a possible vote on overhauling two Chicago pension funds and a hearing on shifting Chicago Public Schools governance to an elected school board. Little budget progress is expected.

A St. Louis redevelopment agency heads into the market as soon as this week with a $108 million issue to fund land and site costs supporting a new $1.75 billion facility for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Chicago Public Schools pulled the plug until 2017 on a $426 million bond sale originally planned this month, a decision that came as the district closed on a new cash flow borrowing.

Cook County, Ill., Board President Toni Preckwinkle cast the deciding vote on a sweetened beverage tax promoted as the best means to avert deep public safety and health spending cuts to close a budget gap.