Yvette Shields

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is defending its decision for a second consecutive year to defer repayment of commercial paper instead of retiring it as originally planned in the budget.

K-12 education could be the next victim of the political quagmire enveloping the Illinois budget.

Chicago closes the door on a $2.2 billion downgrade-driven liquidity crisis by selling $535 million of water revenue-backed paper in a deal that sheds bank credit and counterparty risk.

The Chicago Summer Business Institute has 200 applications from high school students looking for an entrance to the business world but only 100 paid internship openings — a shortage organizers say highlights the need for an upcoming fundraiser.

The junk-rated Chicago Public Schools doesn't meet any of five state criteria to warrant further state intervention, the Illinois State Board of Education has found.

A constitutional amendment protecting transportation revenue is headed to Illinois voters, but questions on redistricting and a graduated income tax rate fell by the wayside.

A Chicago-based investment advisor faces jail time after pocketing more than $4 million from the sale of phony Chicago-backed securities that she described as "Chicago Anticipatory Notes."

The Chicago Public Schools face an August deadline to renew its credit lines having generated little traction for plans to bring their budget to a sustainable position.

The financial crises in Chicago and Illinois may get worse before they get better, experts told the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

Missouri-based St. Luke’s Health System heads into the market with a $250 million refunding Thursday that will enhance the conservative structure of its debt portfolio.

Milwaukee takes competitive bids Thursday on $300 million of notes and bonds, and plans another sale in June to support a basketball arena.

Some version of Detroit’s so-called “grand bargain” could help other fiscally struggling Rust Belt cities, including Chicago, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research says in a report.

Illinois’ recent approval of some funding for higher education and student aid does little to calm concerns about the long-term impact of the funding drought on state university and community college balance sheets and reputations.

The Mayo Clinic is returning the market Tuesday with a $200 million refunding, a follow up to its $350 million taxable new-money issue in March.

A Will County, Illinois school district took a five-notch rating downgrade to the lowest investment grade as it turns to short-term borrowing to deal with fallout from the improper accounting of past bond proceeds.

The Cook County Clerk’s office has reversed course and signed off on the validity of Harvey, Ill.’s property tax levy request, raising hopes that the city will make good on bond payments.

Some investors in Harvey, Illinois debt report being stiffed on a bond payment, though the city has not made any disclosures through the EMMA system.

Missouri heads into the market next week with $100 million of its high-grade paper to finance state and public university building projects as lawmakers have wrapped up work on a fiscal 2017 budget with a final vote still looming on a gasoline tax proposal.

Spread fallout from Chicago’s latest pension and rating setbacks hasn’t trickled down to other local governments the way Chicago’s plunge to junk did last spring, Markit says in a new report.

Ferguson, Missouri’s bond ratings fell deeper into junk territory amid the fiscal strains of dealing with fallout from a controversial 2014 fatal police shooting.