Yvette Shields

CHICAGO — Weighed down with $15 billion of unfunded pension obligations, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called on Illinois lawmakers Tuesday to raise the retirement age, suspend cost-of-living increases and raise contribution rates to reduce the city’s unfunded liabilities by 40%.

Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann L. Schneider last week unveiled a $9.2 billion multi-year program that combines planning and programming for highways, airports, rail and mass transit from fiscal 2013 to fiscal 2018.

While Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed pension reforms would help stabilize the state’s pension system, according to Moody’s Investors Service, analysts warned of the negative effects it would have on some local governments, since it requires school districts to start shouldering some of the burden for funding their teachers’ pensions.

CHICAGO — Missouri lawmakers have shelved legislation that would have permitted the implementation of tolls on Interstate 70 to fund a $2 billion to $4 billion rebuilding and expansion of the aging highway through a public-private partnership.

The Chicago City Council's Finance Committee advanced ordinances authorizing the sale of up to $1.5 billion of mostly refunding revenue bonds for Midway Airport and up to $600 million of new-money and refunding wastewater debt.

CHICAGO — Chicago enters the market this week with more than $400 million of mostly new-money water revenue bonds in its first borrowing to benefit from recent rate hikes that paved the way for an acceleration of projects under a five-year, $1.67 billion program.

States should consider adapting their tax and budget practices to avoid the deep bruising of downturns as their fortunes over the last decade have grown increasingly tied to economic cycles, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago recommends in a new report.

CHICAGO — Louisville, Ky.-based Hilliard Lyons has added two institutional sales professionals to its municipal team and remains in the market to hire more across its Midwestern and Southeastern footprint, including eight bankers, firm officials said Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed $34 billion fiscal 2013 operating budget, along with recently unveiled Medicaid and pension reforms, received the endorsement Tuesday of a local government review organization that said the package "would put Illinois finances on the road to recovery."

CHICAGO — The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois plans to enter the market later this spring with a cash-flow issue that could reach up to $400 million depending on the fate of its request to extend an expiring short-term borrowing authorization.

The Missouri House advanced a bill that would require greater public scrutiny of tax-exempt bond assistance being sought by private companies along with increased financial disclosure by such firms.

A federal judge last week approved the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District’s $2.7 billion consent decree with federal authorities, bringing to a close a nearly five-year old lawsuit over clean-water violations.

A circuit court judge last week declared unconstitutional a 2011 Illinois law requiring out-of-state companies to collect online sales taxes.

CHICAGO – Moody's Investors Service called Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed package of pension reforms a "credit positive" on Monday.

CHICAGO — Chicago-based investment bank William Blair & Co. has hired Mark Morehouse, a specialist in airport-related public private partnerships, in a bet that local governments and agencies will show increasing interest in private deals for airport infrastructure.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's recent proposals to stabilize state finances may not help shrink the interest rate penalty demanded by investors on the state's $1.8 billion refunding set for next week.

Moody's Investors Service put Chicago on notice that its unfunded pension obligations of nearly $15 billion threaten the stability of the city's Aa3 general obligation rating.

CHICAGO — A bankruptcy court judge in Chicago has signed off on the $53.5 million purchase of the assets of the Clare at Water Tower continuing care retirement community that provides a recovery rate of about 24 cents on the dollar for secured creditors, including most holders of $229 million of municipal bonds.

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council overwhelmingly approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial plan to establish an infrastructure trust to tap private investment in public projects after rejecting several measures aimed at tightening oversight of the new nonprofit.

Milwaukee’s recent downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service became a campaign issue last week when Mayor Tom Barrett, who hopes to unseat Gov. Scott Walker in an upcoming recall election, blamed Walker for the action.