Yvette Shields

Legislation making its way through the state legislature enhances pension benefits for Tier 2 Chicago firefighters but the Civic Federation is urging lawmakers to slow down.

"The SLGS window closed after we released the pre-marketing wire and had already signed off on the cashflows," which assumed the use of SLGS, city Auditor Megan Kilgore said. "I've had the SLGS window close the same week, even within a day or two of pricing, but not without any advance notice."

The Missouri House approved legislation to strip St. Louis of its earnings tax on remote work; Wisconsin lawmakers unveiled a plan to raise revenue sharing.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott traded barbs over the flow of migrants as the city has been overwhelmed since Texas began sending them on to Chicago last August.

Additional spending was permitted by a rosier revenue forecast that lifted expected general fund revenues through the next biennium.

The city is offering more than $1 billion of debt under its higher-rated Sales Tax Securitization Corp., and its water and wastewater revenue credits.

Indianapolis Public Schools wants $410 million for projects throughout the district with 23 schools in line for improvements.

Transition committee members include several names familiar to the public finance community including Martin Cabrera, head of Cabrera Capital Markets, a majority Latino-owned investment banking firm, and Richard Price, executive chairman of Mesirow, which also does public finance banking.

"Tenders are another tool in the toolbox, that depending on the situation and market dynamics, can be used to generate robust savings," Aaron Heintz said.

S&P signaled the next lift needed for Detroit to shed junk status is within reach — in the next one to two years — by assigning a positive outlook to the BB-plus rating.

While the system took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, total traffic hit 94% of pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Traffic for the first two months of 2023 was 99% of levels in the same period of 2019.

"We know this cliff is coming," said state Sen. Ram Villivalam, head of the state Senate transportation committee. "What structural reforms are we looking at implementing? What innovation can we pursue?"

Chicago outgoing mayor offered a parting shot against pending state legislation that stands to add to city pension costs, but sponsors say the fix was promised and is needed to avoid violating federal rules.

Illinois' $2.5 billion transaction took center stage Wednesday as the state's first GOs to carry an A-level rating since 2016 still offers a healthy yield kick over the A and BBB benchmarks.

Chicago's fiscal forecast has brightened and near-term surpluses should go to cover supplemental pension contributions and into reserves, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said as she prepares to hand the reins of city government to Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson

Illinois' $2.45 billion GO sale should attract a wider investor audience with the higher ratings as the state seeks to raise new money for capital projects, fund ongoing pension buyout programs, and refund some debt for present value savings.

Several Midwest hospital mergers that are in the works will contribute to the 2023 numbers while one announced in 2022 just closed.

The upgrades add to the city's ratings upswing across credits that Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will inherit from Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Illinois' public universities continue to reap ratings and aid benefits from the state's positive rating trajectory and healthy near-term revenue landscape.

The announcement came as a global settlement agreement that resolves Preston Hollow Capital LLC's litigation against Miller and Nuveen was disclosed.