Yvette Shields

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday began the hard sell for a record property tax increase to make good on the city’s enormous police and fire pension bill.

Chicago plans as much as $3 billion of airport, wastewater revenue, and general obligation borrowing -- mostly for refunding and restructuring purposes -- that officials say can’t wait on an improved market climate for city debt.

Chicago's fiscal reckoning is at hand as Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to unveil his 2016 budget on Tuesday with investors and analysts watching closely to see how he plans to solve the city's fiscal ills.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust is soliciting help from the private sector as it takes the first steps toward a public-private partnership to upgrade the city and park district’s public lighting systems.

Ferguson, Mo. lost its investment-grade rating Thursday when Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating four notches in a sign of the financial fallout from the fatal 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown.

The Illinois Housing Development Authority is searching for a new executive director to replace Mary Kenney who leaves Friday to join BMO as its director of U.S. government affairs.

Illinois Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority officials said they are pleased with the results of its Wednesday bond pricing, even though it paid a penalty for the recent loss of its high-grade ratings.

The Milwaukee Common Council is expected to consider at its meeting Sept. 22 the use of $47 million in public funds to help finance a new $500 million arena for National Basketball Association’s Milwaukee Bucks.

Standard & Poor’s view of the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics Authority’s A-plus credit has brightened.

A federal class action lawsuit settlement between a group of bondholders that invested in a failed Missouri sucralose plant and the financial firms involved in the $39 million bond deal is nearing final approval.

The Illinois Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority will learn Wednesday the cost of the downgrades it absorbed thanks to the state's budget impasse when it sells $223 million of securities.

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced nearly $400 million of new borrowing plans at its meeting Thursday in deals that highlight the popularity of direct placements.

Illinois-based College of DuPage fired its top two fiscal managers – treasurer Thomas Glaser and controller Lynn Sapyta – accusing the two of violating school investment practices and other internal rules.

The Illinois attorney general won't ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the the Illinois Supreme Court’s voiding of the state’s 2013 pension reform legislation.

Illinois’ cash flow position grows more dire by the day with the state on pace to rack up an $8.5 billion bill backlog by the start of the new year, Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger warned Wednesday.

Services are scheduled this weekend for Jerry B. Wallack, a prominent Chicago-based public finance lawyer who died suddenly Sept. 4. He was 63.

Not only will a huge property tax hike to fund pensions be a tough sell in Chicago, it will only go part of the way toward solving the city’s fiscal problems, experts said.

OSF Healthcare System in Illinois heads into the market next week with its $368 million sale with a second dose of good credit news.

More than half of Chicago and its sister agencies’ 11 public employee pension funds have agreed to a joint proposal promoted by Treasurer Kurt Summers that’s aimed at cutting annual investment fees.

The stark political divisions around the idea of allowing Chapter 9 bankruptcy in Illinois were highlighted at a recent legislative hearing.