Yvette Shields

Richard Ciccarone — a prominent voice for buyside municipal research — will retire from his post as chief research officer at McDonnell Investment Management LLC to devote more time to expand his Merritt Research database and -he hopes — to carve out more leisure time in his day.

Two Illinois health systems – Cadence Health and Rockford Health System – announced their plans this week to merge, the latest in a long list of healthcare unions in the state in recent years.

Chicago-based law firm Shefsky & Froelich and Ohio-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP have agreed to join forces.

Morgan Stanley has cut three public finance bankers from its various offices, according to market participants, including Warren "Bo" Daniels Jr.

Chicago plans to enter the market Thursday with $326 million of Midway International Airport second lien refunding bonds in a long planned restructuring that was on hold as the city pursued a privatization deal.

The Illinois Finance Authority approved plans by long-struggling East St. Louis to free itself from state advisory oversight and laid the groundwork for Pace suburban bus service to borrow for capital projects.

The Minneapolis City Council has approved a $100 million planned renovation of the 23-year-old city-owned Target Center arena.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded Green Bay, Wis.'s general obligation rating one notch to Aa2 as it prepares to sell $25 million of taxable lease revenue bonds to finance convention center improvements.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn tapped former Chicago Public Schools leader and former city budget director Paul Vallas as his running mate in the 2014 election.

American Airlines will ask a bankruptcy court to approve an agreement with federal regulators that settles the government's antitrust lawsuit against American's proposed merger with US Airways Group Inc.

Illinois hopes to select a private partner to develop its estimated $1.1 billion share of the proposed Illiana toll road by next fall with the goal of closing on a finance package as soon as early 2015, a top state transportation official said Thursday.

Municipal borrowers looking to expedite the process to tap the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program for project loans should bring a thorough financing package to the table and be flexible in negotiating terms, loan recipients offered up as advice Thursday.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust approved its inaugural financing -- a $27.5 million tax-exempt private placement to finance city energy efficiency projects – advancing it to the City Council.

Missouri local governments' penchant for negotiated sales over competitive bidding resulted in an estimated $43 million in higher costs over a four-year period, state auditor Tom Schweich concluded.

American Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. settled an antitrust lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice, clearing American's path to exit bankruptcy and repay its municipal bondholders.

The Illinois Finance Authority is selling $134.5 million of top-rated state revolving fund bonds in a deal that marks the state's first SRF borrowing in nine years and ushers in an expanded $1 billion loan program.

Jackson County, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected a sales tax hike aimed at raising $800 million over the next two decades to fund the establishment of a new research institute.

Moody's Investors Service has revised its outlook on the University of Chicago Medical Center's Aa3 rating to negative over declines in is operating margins over the last two fiscal years.

Standard & Poor's has revised its outlook on Chicago-based Presence Health Network's BBB-plus rating to negative from stable over its operating losses.

A majority of St. Louis convention center hotel bondholders who took ownership after a bond default agreed to a deal to sell the larger of the complex's two hotels.