Yvette Shields

The Lombard, Ill., Village Board will vote at a meeting late Tuesday on an appropriation of nearly $1 million to cover a shortfall in the Jan. 1 debt service payment owed on its conference center and hotel debt.

Illinois will kick off the new year with a competitive general obligation issue on Jan. 11 of between $500 million and $750 million to fund its ongoing public works program.

Detroit's stressed fiscal situation warrants a full-blown state review, Michigan's treasurer said in a preliminary analysis of city finances ordered by Gov. Rick Snyder.

The trustee for $39 million of bonds sold by Moberly, Mo., to help finance an artificial sweetener factory has joined with other creditors to pursue an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing against the Chinese company that abandoned the project and defaulted on debt payments.

Moody's Investors Service dropped its rating on Greene County's debt four notches and warned of further negative action due to the county's lack of adequate financial reporting.

Moody's Investors Service has lowered its rating to Baa3 from Baa2 on Anderson Hospital due to its weakened financial performance. The action affects $33.9 million of rated debt sold through the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said city departments have exceeded the $75 million budgetary savings goal he set for 2011 after taking office in May.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board has adopted a $609 million budget for 2012 that anticipates $200 million in toll-backed borrowing as the agency embarks on its $12 billion, 15-year capital program to maintain and expand the 286-mile system.

One day after Illinois lawmakers passed more than $300 million in tax relief to keep several companies from moving jobs out of the state, the top House Republican on Wednesday proposed legislation that would speed up the expiration of the corporate income tax hike driving company threats to flee.

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced about $600 million of borrowing planned by the University of Chicago, Children's Memorial Hospital, and others before the end of the year and into 2012.

Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Agnesian Health Care’s A3 rating while revising its outlook to positive from stable in recognition of its favorable operating margins.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has appointed a task force charged with reviewing the city’s existing ethics ordinance and recommending changes aimed at strengthening it and giving it teeth.

Standard & Poor’s downgraded the underlying rating of the Chicago Housing Authority’s 2006 capital revenue refunding bonds one notch to AA-minus because of lower debt service coverage ratios from federal funds.

The Chicago organization Women in Public Finance will recognize three women — Chicago's chief financial officer, Columbus' assistant auditor, and a public finance banker and financial advisor — at its sixth annual founders awards next month.

With trading active on much of bankrupt American Airlines' $3.2 billion of special facilities revenue bonds, some market participants are sounding a cautionary tone in assessing their value, as bargain hunters eye the airline's discounted bonds secured by collateral.

Low borrowing rates, high unemployment in the construction trades, and an expiring lease at its current home give urgency to the Minnesota Vikings' desire for a new home, team officials told lawmakers at a Minnesota Senate committee hearing this week.

A federal court judge in Chicago handed down a 14-year prison sentence to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted in June of corruption charges of using his office to enrich his campaign coffers and to try to profit from his pick to fill the Senate seat of President Obama.

CHICAGO — The bondholder-owned St. Louis convention center hotel complex is back on the selling block with consultants lining up potential bidders in hopes of closing on a deal next year, the bond trustee reported in an investor notice.

Standard & Poor’s revised its outlook to stable from negative on the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees’ A-plus due to improved operations.

In response to Fitch Ratings’ revision of its outlook on O’Hare International Airport’s general airport revenue bonds to negative, Chicago aviation officials said they are confident the airport’s position as a key hub for bankrupt American Airlines will limit any service cuts as the carrier reorganizes.