Yvette Shields

Illinois will take competitive bids on $500 million of GOs later this month in its first borrowing of the New Year and first test of market reaction to the General Assembly's failure to overhaul pensions.

The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois board approved its $3.7 billion 2013 budget on Wednesday after resolving a standoff with one of its service boards over its plans to borrow $1 billion over the next five years.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad unveiled a proposed $6.5 billion fiscal 2014 budget that offers property tax relief he said the state can afford with an $800 million surplus after several years of belt-tightening.

A long-awaited review of the state of Chicago's retiree healthcare system concludes that the cash-strapped city can't afford to keep subsidizing its other post-employment benefits at existing levels.

Standard & Poor's last week raised the Chicago Housing Authority's issuer credit rating one notch to AA following criteria changes.

A Chicago Public Schools-appointed commission on school closures last week offered a preliminary recommendation that no high schools face shuttering.

DePaul University in Chicago won an upgrade from Moody's Investors Service Monday in recognition of its consistent positive operating performance and established student market.

The Illinois RTA accused American Airlines and United Airlines of avoiding $300 million in sales taxes over the last seven years by conducting some business in "sham" offices set up outside of Cook County.

Fitch Ratings put Illinois on notice Friday that its A level general obligation rating faces a downgrade without action over the next six months to solve its pension funding crisis.

Chicago named members of a special advisory panel charged with protecting the public's interest in a possible lease of Midway International Airport.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust board approved the addition of six advisory members Thursday as it gears up to solicit private market interest in funding energy efficiency upgrades to city facilities and public schools.

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced new-money and refunding deals planned by Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and the Franciscan Communities Inc. in the coming months.

Illinois lawmakers adjourned a lame-duck session after failing to fix the state's pension crisis, leaving the $95 billion unfunded pension mess to the newly inaugurated Illinois General.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency hits the market Wednesday with $75 million of tax-exempt homeownership finance bonds that marks its third use a mortgage backed pass-through structure.

Fitch Ratings has revised its outlook on the junk bond rating of Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District’s sales tax bonds to positive as the district expects to add new development this year.

Moody's has downgraded Fairfield by two notches to Baa1 from A2 and warned of further negative action as the city struggles with budget deficits.

Investors who hold some of the $4.5 billion of revenue bonds issued for the controversial Prairie State Energy Project can take heart that the project's long-term economics remain favorable for participating public power agencies despite cost overruns, says Moody's Investors Service.

Fired last summer by Blaylock Robert Van LLC, Chicago-based public finance banker Frank Paul has filed a charge of race and age employment discrimination against his former employer with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

A group of prominent Illinois-based civic groups Thursday banded together to intensify pressure on lawmakers to act now during a special legislative session to overhaul the state's pension system weighed down by $95 billion in unfunded obligations.

The funded ratios of 11 pension funds that cover Chicago, Cook County and statewide municipal workers in Illinois deteriorated in 2011 and they collectively now carry $37 billion of unfunded obligations, according to a new report.