Yvette Shields

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Public Schools plan to expand early childhood education programs through a $17 million Social Impact Bond.

Milwaukee will take competitive bids Wednesday on $125 million of revenue anticipation notes for the city's public school system.

A new quantitative fiscal review of four Chicago charter schools and networks ranks two as financially healthy while the other two face negative trends that could hinder their long term prospects.

Standard & Poor's has bumped Howard Young Health Care Inc. firmly into single A category with a two notch upgrade in recognition of tis strong financials and its parent's relationship with Ascension Health Alliance last year.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed not to raise property, sales, or gasoline taxes to help erase $297 million of red ink in his proposed 2015 budget, set to be unveiled later this month.

The per capita tab to cover local and state unfunded pension liabilities has grown to nearly $20,000 for a Chicago resident based on 2012 results, according to an annual report on Chicago area pension funds from the Civic Federation of Chicago.

Milwaukee' cultural and entertainment venues need at least $445 million over the next two decades for capital improvements and to fund the public’s share of a new Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball arena, according to a task force report.

Using language Mayor Rahm Emanuel is unlikely to replicate in campaign brochures, Chicago's latest bond documents lay out for investors in stark terms the risks posed by its steep credit deterioration and hazards should it slip further.

Residential property tax rates in Chicago have risen by more than 30% over the last decade, with other selected Cook County communities reviewed by the Civic Federation of Chicago experiencing increases of at least 55%.

Chicago officials said the city's O'Hare International Airport is on pace to reclaim the title of the world's busiest airport by flights, a title it ceded a decade ago to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Memorial Airport.

Moberly, Missouri has adopted new debt management policies as it seeks to repair its junk bond credit bruised over a failure to make good on bonds sold for a troubled artificial sweetener construction project.

Batavia, Ill., officials plan to ask the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office to examine the city's 2007 decision to purchase power from the controversial bond-financed, coal-fired Prairie State Energy Campus.

Moody's Investors Service has raised by one notch its sales tax ratings on three Iowa school districts to reflect an extension of their sales tax base not previously factored into its ratings by Moody's.

A federal judge granted class action status to an investor lawsuit accusing the former Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. of securities fraud for its role in underwriting $39 million of defaulted bonds issued for a failed artificial sweetener plan in Moberly, Missouri.

Illinois-based Presence Health has finalized a deal to sell one of its Chicago hospitals that has strained the system's books with losses.

After years of struggling to fill its halls, a student housing facility privately developed for Chicago's DePaul University is marking its second year of near full occupancy with the boost in revenues allowing it to chip away at some overdue debt service.

Moody's Investors Service has affirmed Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History's A2 rating as the museum seeks to improve its balance sheet through an ongoing restructuring and plans to expand its capital campaign.

Chicago-based Mesirow Financial has hired veteran bond underwriter Stephen "Jay" Murphy to bolster its municipal desk.

A projected $1.8 billion gap in Wisconsin's next two-year budget has Gov. Scott Walker on the defensive as he seeks re-election. Polls show whim in a tight contest with Democratic challenger Mary Burke.

Standard & Poor's dropped Morrison, Ill.'s limited-tax GO debt certificates three notches to the lowest investment grade level of BBB-minus and its issuer credit rating to BBB due to its ongoing fiscal challenges.