Yvette Shields

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority on Tuesday advanced St. Louis-based Ascension Health Alliance's plans to issue up to $600 million of new-money and refunding debt tied primarily to its recent acquisition of Alexian Brothers Health System in suburban Chicago.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon last week said any plan to implement tolls on Interstate 70 to fund its rebuilding should go before voters.

Ramsey County last week released a revised plan for a new Minnesota Vikings professional football stadium that relies on parking revenue, naming rights, an admission fee and hospitality taxes to cover its $300 million share of the $1.1 billion price tag.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Davenport, Iowa’s general obligation bond rating one notch to Aa2 ahead of its sale of $31.3 million of new debt.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle last week said the two governments saved $20.5 million by collaborating in some areas over the last six months of 2011.

CHICAGO — With Kansas City, Mo., set to exhaust its voter-approved general obligation bonding authority with an issue next month, Mayor Sly James is hoping to win City Council and voter support for as much as $1 billion of new authority for infrastructure improvements over the next decade.

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's finance team will introduce to the City Council this week an ordinance seeking approval to refund up to $1.75 billion of O'Hare International Airport general airport revenue bonds and passenger facility charge bonds for savings.

CHICAGO — Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets LLC has opened a public finance office in Little Rock, Ark., the first in a series of new regions it hopes to establish a presence in this year as it extends its reach from major metropolitan areas to smaller urban markets.

CHICAGO — Missouri transportation officials are seeking legislative authority to turn Interstate 70 into a toll road to fund a $2 billion to $4 billion rebuilding and expansion of the aging highway, possibly through a pubic-private partnership.

Nearly nine months after a devastating tornado wrecked its high school and destroyed or damaged nine other facilities, the Joplin School District in Missouri voted this week to ask voters for $62 million of borrowing authority to cover its share of a $185 million rebuilding program.

The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission last week submitted to the St. Louis Rams a $124 million renovation plan for the Edward Jones Dome with $60 million of public funding.

Moody’s Investors Service has stripped Le Center, Minn., of its investment-grade rating and warned of further negative action due to the city’s reliance on cash-flow borrowing to cover a February debt-service payment and its inability to repay a loan that came due in December.

Local governments in Minnesota had $410 million of outstanding general obligation bond debt in 2010 related to tax-increment financing districts, according to a new analysis compiled by state auditor Rebecca Otto’s office.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last week the nomination of local public finance banker Martin Cabrera Jr. to serve as chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Johnny L. Thomas Jr. has suspended his campaign for Milwaukee city comptroller after criminal charges were filed against him for accepting a bribe during a sting operation in exchange for advancing a financial advisory contract.

Grigsby & Associates Inc. owner Calvin Grigsby said he will vigorously fight accusations leveled by the Illinois secretary of state that he failed to properly supervise a former banker in the firm's Chicago office who advised the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to invest in a bank that later failed.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn called for legislative action this year on pension and Medicaid reforms to stabilize the state's fiscal house but offered few details on how to accomplish that goal in his state of the state address.

Dubuque will issue $4.4 million of general obligation urban-renewal bonds and $7.5 million of GOs as soon as next week.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week announced a second series of tax-increment financing reforms aimed at improving the program’s transparency and accountability.

A fiscal meltdown awaits Illinois in the coming years as its bill backlog rises from $9.2 billion this year to $34.8 billion in fiscal 2017 unless state lawmakers take action to rein in growing pension and Medicaid costs, a government research organization warned Monday.