Yvette Shields

Polk County supervisors approved placing a $50 million bond question on Iowa’s Nov. 6 ballot to finance conservation improvements and recreational projects over the next two decades.

Moody’s Investors Service has stripped the village of Matteson, Ill., of its investment-grade rating as it grapples with a sharp deterioration of its fiscal position.

The Rockford School District will ask voters on the November ballot to approve new borrowing to support a $311 million, 10-year capital program needed to upgrade aging schools.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday vetoed a controversial gambling expansion bill that would have authorized five new casinos and allowed slots at racing tracks.

With its pricing this week of $15 million of extendible rolling tender variable-rate bonds, the Milwaukee comptroller will complete a plan introducing new floating-rate products that don't require liquidity support to the city's debt portfolio.

Minnesota will draw from reserves and bond proceeds to help fund a $167.5 million relief package approved by lawmakers Friday for areas hard hit by June storms and flooding.

Moody's Investors Service on Thursday weighed in on Illinois' failed special session on pension reform, warning that ongoing inaction is a drag on the state's credit due to the strain on its balance sheet.

A federal bankruptcy court judge signed an order authorizing American Airline's assumption of its Tulsa maintenance base sublease, paving the way for the bond trustee on $237 million of debt to soon resume payments.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board on Thursday approved new pools of underwriters as it gears up to enter the market with a roughly $200 million issue to launch a $12 billion, 15-year capital program.

The Chicago Board of Ed adopted a $5.2 billion fiscal 2013 operating budget that drains most of its reserves to help close a $665 million deficit with big pension payment hike looming and teacher demands for bigger raises.

American Airlines and the trustee on $237 million of revenue bonds issued for the airline's Tulsa maintenance base will ask the bankruptcy court to approve a settlement.

Moody’s Investors Service said last week it expects Missouri cities will maintain their credit quality amid ongoing economic and budgetary challenges due to slow overall growth, weak consumer confidence and persistently above-average unemployment.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook on the OSF Healthcare System’s A3 rating to positive from stable in recognition of improved operating performance and market share.

Officials from Illinois’ Regional Transportation Authority praised Gov. Pat Quinn’s signing of legislation that requires public disclosure of sales tax agreements between local governments and companies that the RTA and some other governments complain result in lost revenues.

Lured by attractive Treasury rates and the absence of tax-exempt compliance, the Mayo Clinic is accelerating its new-money borrowing plans and opting to go with taxable paper in a $300 million issue pricing as soon as this week.

The Minnesota Legislature is tentatively planning to meet for a special session on Aug. 24 to approve aid for the flood-ravaged Duluth area.

Minnesota's HealthEast Care System won back its investment grade rating last week from Standard & Poor's in recognition of its improving balance sheet.

Illinos Gov. Pat Quinn last week signed legislation extending special taxing districts known as enterprise zones for 25 years.

Chicago may have chipped away at its structural budget gap this year, but fiscal stress looms in the coming years as debt service and pension costs rise along with health care and other personnel costs.

The Iowa Finance Authority might come close to tapping all of its allowance under the 2008 federal Midwestern Disaster Area Bond Program with big deals for Alcoa, Cargill approved and a tentative one for a $1.2 billion fertilizer plant.