Yvette Shields

Chicago hits the market Thursday with $784 million of new-money and refunding Midway Airport bonds that will nearly wrap up a restructuring aimed at strengthening its debt portfolio.

The Illinois House heads into its final week at an impasse over a fiscal 2015 budget after rejecting on Friday a budget stripped of more than $3 billion of income tax revenue.

The Madison Metropolitan Schools lost its top rating from Moody's Investors Service after a review prompted by the rating agency's shift in its local government general obligation rating methodology.

A not-for-profit St. Louis group raised the possibility of referendum drive to try to challenge the Legislature's override of Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of an income tax cut.

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen signed off on an amended redevelopment agreement related to the city's bondholder-owned convention center hotel complex that helps clear the path for the complex's sale.

The president and chief executive officer of the company that operates a controversial mostly bond-financed Midwestern coal plant has resigned and a national search for a replacement is planned.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to make an expiring income tax permanent has just a little more than half the votes needed to clear the Illinois House with the clock ticking on the legislative session.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed legislation authorizing $1.1 billion in mostly bond-financed infrastructure spending and extending the state's ability to do negotiated bond sales for four years.

Two former Minneapolis-based Northland Securities veterans have returned to the firm to bolster its education work.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn lacks the House votes needed to win approval of his plan to make an expiring tax increase permanent, despite a lengthy lobbying session with fellow Democrats.

Illinois lawmakers head into their final two-week stretch, and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn plans to press his case with House Democrats for making an expiring temporary income tax permanent.

Missouri lawmakers wrapped up a busy 2014 session after passing income tax relief and overriding a veto, adopting a new fiscal 2015 budget, authorizing $600 million in borrowing, and sending to the ballot a sales tax hike for transportation.

The boards of two Illinois-based systems — Cadence Health and Northwestern Memorial HealthCare — on Thursday agreed to join forces.

Illinois acted within its sovereign authority when it passed last year's pension reforms given its precarious fiscal condition and the size of its unfunded pension obligations.

The Minnesota Legislature on Friday approved a $1 billion package of capital projects primarily financed with general obligation borrowing.

Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's weighed in Thursday saying an Illinois judge's decision to temporarily halt implementation of the state's pension overhaul during a legal challenge does not pose an immediate credit concern.

The Minnesota House was expected to vote on a $1.1 billion capital budget that primarily relies on general obligation borrowing.

A sales tax hike in Missouri to bolster transportation funding is headed to the November ballot.

An Illinois state court judge on Wednesday agreed to temporarily halt the June 1 effective date of state pension overhaul legislation passed last December.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission hits the market next week with a $900 million refunding as it awaits legislative word on whether a sales tax hike to ease its funding crunch will go to voters this fall.