Yvette Shields

Illinois achieved about $56 million in present value savings on the refunding portion of its nearly $550 high-grade, sales tax backed deal that sold competitively Thursday.

The junk-rated Chicago Board of Education authorized up to $1.5 billion in short-term and $945 million of long-term borrowing and signed off on a $5.4 billion budget despite warnings that the plan relies on precarious assumptions.

Illinois’ largest retirement fund will review its assumed investment rate Friday amid a warning from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration that lowering it from 7.5% could have a “devastating” impact on funding for social services and education.

Chicago-based Cabrera Capital Markets again has bankers on the ground on both coasts with the hiring of Brian Corley out west and Bonwick Capital Markets’ municipal banking managers out east.

Chicago Public Schools is seeking a $400 million increase to its short term borrowing capacity to help manage its strained liquidity.

City Colleges of Chicago suffered a two-notch downgrade after it drew down reserves to balance its books amid uncertainty over the timing and size of future state funding.

An Illinois-based joint power agency heads into the market to refund $250 million of debt tied to the controversial coal-fired Prairie State Energy Campus.

A new coalition of labor and business is hoping to persuade Illinois voters to support a constitutional amendment that would halt the diversion of transportation-related revenue.

Chicago's junk-rated school district scheduled a public hearing next week on a request for $945 million of borrowing authorization.

Illinois' fiscal reckoning arrived after years of disguising its structural budget woes in large part by shortchanging its pension system, says a new piece from the Chicago Federal Reserve.

Illinois will return to the market with $573 million of new money and refunding bonds under a higher-rated sales tax-backed credit.

The Great Lakes Water Authority is preparing its first bond issues since launching on Jan. 1, when it assumed Detroit’s $5.5 billion water and sewer debt portfolio and took charge of regional water management.

Chicago Public Schools unveiled a $5.4 billion budget that district officials call “balanced” though it relies on concessions the teachers’ union hasn’t accepted and the state making good on pledged pension help.

Chicago’s proposal to rescue its municipal pension fund from looming insolvency with a new water/sewer tax is a positive step that if finalized could stabilize the city’s rating, S&P Global Ratings said.

Governors State University lost its investment grade rating in the latest credit fallout to hit Illinois higher education institutions from the state’s budget mess.

At its recent investors’ conference, Chicago impressed analysts with a new plan to rescue the largest of the city’s four pension funds, but several attendees said the smooth presentations didn’t erase their worries about the city’s pensions and its budget.

Fitch Ratings lowered the issuer default ratings on four Ohio school districts after a review under new criteria.

Detroit Public Schools' $212 million of state aid-backed bonds received a downgrade to junk from S&P Global Ratings.

Chicago plans a tax on water and sewer services to save its largest pension fund from insolvency, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced.

A compromise agreement to put a tax hike on the November ballot that would help fund a $4.7 billion mass transit funding package for Southeastern Michigan could be voted on Thursday.