Yvette Shields

Minnesota aims to cast off headline risks tied to the tobacco sector next week when it sells $787.6 million of tobacco bonds by using a conservative structure that limits final maturities and ensures bondholders are paid even if cigarette consumption dips far more annually than expected.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority board signed off on three new financings at its meeting Tuesday, including the first to take advantage of its new cross-border conduit issuance powers.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Manitowoc two notches to A1 from Aa2 and assigned a negative outlook due to its structural budget imbalance.

Wisconsin’s not-for-profit hospitals last year generated $28 billion in economic activity and provided $1.4 billion in community benefits, according to new studies.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last week the $1 billion reconstruction of the Chicago Transit Authority’s busy Red Line.

Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the Waubonsee Community College District 516 one notch to Aa1 in recognition of its large and growing tax base and strong fiscal position.

CHICAGO - The trustee for $39 million of appropriation-backed bonds sold by a Moberly, Missouri, to help finance an artificial sweetener factory has filed a federal lawsuit against the Chinese company that abandoned the half-built project and defaulted on its city payments to cover debt service.

CHICAGO - Chicago enters the market this week with $412 million of new-money general obligation bonds ahead of an expected vote next week on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first spending plan.

CHICAGO - The debt burden of state and local government borrowers in Iowa rose in fiscal 2011 by 6.6% to $13.8 billion, according to a report published last week by Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald's office.

CHICAGO - Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health's possible acquisition of the stand-alone, 159-year-old Mercy Health System, based in Chicago, last week advanced when the two Catholic health care providers announced they had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to negotiate a union.

CHICAGO - The chief financial officer of pharmaceutical wholesale company H. D. Smith will take over as CFO of Chicago Public Schools next week.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service warned Thursday that Illinois' crackdown on the property-tax exemptions of nonprofit hospitals over the amount of charity care they provide could pose a credit threat to the sector here.

CHICAGO - Moberly, Mo., on Tuesday informed the trustee of $39 million of annual appropriation-backed revenue bonds that it won't honor its pledge to repay the debt issued to help finance construction of a half-built artificial sweetener plant abandoned by a Chinese company.

Missouri, a strong but rare issuer, will take competitive bids Wednesday on a $23.4 million refunding of appropriation-backed debt sold through a conduit to cover the state’s share of the University of Missouri-Columbia basketball arena that opened in 2004.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook on Mercy Hospital’s A2 rating to negative from stable due to a decline in operating performance.

A Chicago government review group has endorsed DuPage County’s proposed $435 million 2012 budget in recognition of its efforts to cut spending and hold its property tax levy steady.

CHICAGO - The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will exhaust its remaining borrowing authority next month when it competitively bids $52 million of revenue bonds, but the agency hopes to return to the market by spring if voters grant $945 million in new bond authority.

CHICAGO - Chicago will tap its high-rated sales tax credit this week to primarily refund general obligation bonds in a $238 million deal that marks the inaugural market outing by new Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration.

A Ramsey County, Minn., judge gave final approval to a class action settlement between the St. Paul Port Authority and investors holding $51.7 million of defaulted industrial revenue bonds, putting an end to five years of litigation over the long-troubled 876 Bond Fund.

CHICAGO - Two former Grigsby & Co. public finance bankers, Wayne Pierce and Susan Homeier, have joined St. Louis-based Stern Brothers & Co.'s Chicago office as part of the firm's ongoing efforts to broaden its reach across regions and sectors.