Yvette Shields

Chicago officially withdrew its application to privatize Midway International Airport in a letter to Federal Aviation Administration Friday.

A Cook County, Ill. Circuit Court judge sided with lawmakers Thursday in ruling that Gov. Pat Quinn violated the state constitution when he stripped legislative pay from the fiscal 2014 budget in an attempt to pressure them to act on pension reforms.

Chicago is ratcheting up pressure on Illinois lawmakers to tackle both its long- and short-term pension woes to avoid both insolvency and a $600 million spike in contributions looming in the coming years.

Chicago paid $3.5 million in fees and expenses to lawyers and other advisors on its aborted plan to privatize Midway International Airport, according to the city's Chief Financial Officer Lois Scott. She called the spending well worth it.

The recent arbitration rulings over disputed tobacco industry settlement payments to the states offer good news for tobacco securitization ratings, but future arbitration proceedings still pose a risk, Moody's Investors Service said in a new report.

Chicago plans to sell up to $900 million of O'Hare International Airport general airport revenue bonds to raise new money for projects and refund older debt for savings.

Fitch Ratings slapped the Chicago Board of Education with a one notch downgrade to A-minus over its budgetary woes driven by a years-long reliance on one-shots to erase red ink.

Macon & Dewitt Counties' Community Unit School District 2 in Central Illinois is at risk of losing its investment grade rating over its fiscal struggles.

Standard & Poor's has lifted the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove's general obligation rating to AAA after applying its new ratings criteria to a review of the credit ahead of a planned refunding.

Minnesota launched its search for underwriters interested in working on state appropriation-backed bond issues for the Minnesota Vikings football stadium.

Moody's Investors Service on Friday placed Illinois-based Proctor Hospital's speculative-grade B2 rating on review for upgrade due to its signing of an affiliation agreement with the stronger and larger Methodist Health Services Corp.

American Airlines proposed merger with US Airways Group stands to impact all airports but several US Airways large hubs are most at risk for change, Wells Fargo Securities LLC says.

Positive developments delay the date of tobacco securitization bond defaults but defaults are still likely, municipal bond analyst Richard Larkin warned.

An Illinois judge said he intends to rule next week on whether Gov. Pat Quinn acted within his authority to strike legislative pay from the fiscal 2014 budget to pressure lawmakers on pension reforms.

Fitch Ratings renewed its warning about a potential broader market impact on how it rates unlimited tax GOs should Detroit prevail in bankruptcy in treating its unlimited tax bonds as unsecured.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge rejected Chicago's efforts to trim the size of a $58 million arbitration award won by the private operators of four downtown city and park district-owned parking garages.

Illinois Democratic gubernatorial candidate William Daley, former White House chief of staff, bowed out of his challenge to incumbent Pat Quinn, a fellow Democrat.

Wisconsin-based Meriter Hospital's steep losses at its affiliated for-profit health plan prompted Moody's Investors Service to downgrade its rating by one notch to A2 and the agency warned of further deterioration by assigning a negative outlook.

Standard & Poor's put Chicago on notice Monday that its A-plus general obligation rating faces a downgrade due to the size of its unfunded pension obligations and the strain of a looming $600 million spike in its pension contributions.

Less than half of state pension plans met Morningstar Inc.'s threshold for healthy status in 2012 with Wisconsin again ranking the strongest and Illinois the weakest.