Yvette Shields

With legal opinions endorsing the bankruptcy-remote structure of its next deal, and an A rating in hand, Chicago Public Schools’ new tax-revenue backed credit has a clear path to market access, though yield penalties will remain.

Chicago Public Schools is readying its inaugural sale under a new dedicated capital improvement tax structure crafted to convince investors that bond repayment is insulated from both the district's operating struggles and the threat of Chapter 9.

State and federal judges in Wisconsin approved final settlement agreements with Stifel and Royal Bank of Canada to conclude an eight-year effort by five school districts to recoup $200 million lost on a risky investment product.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District heads into the market with a $150 million mostly new money issue that taps a $945 million voter-approved bonding authorization from 2012.

Iowa’ s Xenia Rural Water District brought its long financial struggles to a happy ending as it formally shed remaining bonds from its troubled 2006 issue, ending a saga that began with an ambitious expansion that led to default and concerns over the district’s solvency.

The majority of school districts seeking to override Wisconsin-imposed property tax caps on operating revenue won, Moody’s Investors Service said.

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. LLC’s successful receipt of bondholder waivers and completion of a tender exchange for $150 million of the original nearly $1.2 billion deal eases pressures on the struggling project without eliminating them.

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy named former Chicago chief financial officer Lois Scott as the inaugural chair of the advisory board that oversees its expanding Center for Municipal Finance.

Minnesota expects to close out its fiscal biennium June 30 with a $678 million balance, leaving the state $1.4 billion in surplus revenue available for the next two-year budget.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly’s Democratic leadership headed toward the New Year with a budget impasse still hanging over the state, after the annual veto session ended amid deepening political rancor.

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.