Yvette Shields

CHICAGO — The revamped $1.2 billion clean coal FutureGen project advanced this week after a coalition of coal and power companies announced its commitment to the revised plan to build a pipeline and underground storage facility in Illinois to house emissions from an existing coal plant.

CHICAGO — The St. Paul Port Authority and lawyers for a group of 876 fund bondholders squared off in Ramsey County district court Monday over whether the agency has misused revenue generated from assets pledged to bondholders.

The St. Louis Metro transit board last week announced its pick of Chesterfield Mayor John Nations, who is also a partner at the law firm Armstrong Teasdale, as the agency’s president and chief executive officer.

Illinois’ public pension funds are warning they may have to sell off some assets — mostly stocks and bonds — because the state is behind in its payments to the funds.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley last week said he is considering tapping surplus tax-increment financing revenue and privatizing a handful of prominent city services and events in an attempt to whittle down a $655 million shortfall in the 2011 budget.

Illinois’ public universities have now received all or most of their fiscal 2010 state aid appropriation — a credit positive for the schools — but ongoing liquidity strains are expected until the state solves its budget crisis, Moody’s Investors Service said Monday.

Due to the erosion of its general obligation debt ratings, Illinois will pay $551 million of additional interest costs to retire $9.6 billion of bonds sold between last September and July, a Chicago-based government watchdog organization concluded in a report released Monday.

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on Friday announced his intention to appoint Loop Capital Markets LLC’s chief executive officer James Reynolds Jr. to serve as chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority’s board.

CHICAGO — The St. Paul Port Authority and lawyers for a group of 876 Fund bondholders will appear at a court hearing Monday on their dispute over the fate of $51 million of outstanding bonds backed by the struggling economic development fund.

CHICAGO — Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich faces a second federal trial on corruption charges early next year and will stand as the sole defendant following the prosecution’s announcement Thursday that it would drop charges against his brother, Robert Blagojevich.

CHICAGO — The Chicago Board of Education late Wednesday adopted an amended $6.5 billion fiscal 2011 budget after the district’s administration scraped plans to fully wipe out reserves to help eliminate a $370 million deficit by instead restructuring some debt.

CHICAGO — The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Illinois has picked Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley as the joint book-running senior managers on its first financing under legislation that allows it to restructure a $2.1 billion debt portfolio.

Moody’s Investors Service on Monday downgraded West Allis/West Milwaukee School District’s general obligation rating to A2 from A1 with a negative outlook after the district board reneged on its moral obligation pledge to repay asset-backed notes issued by its non-pension retiree health care trust. The action affects $18.5 million of outstanding GO debt.

Fitch Ratings last week upgraded by one notch to AA-plus its rating on the Missouri School District Direct Deposit Program.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded St. Olaf College’s rating to A1 from A2 due to strong cash-flow margins, healthy liquidity and its plan to reduce its floating-rate risk.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley last week announced the formation of a committee to study establishing express rail service between downtown and O’Hare International Airport that would complement the existing rail line.

CHICAGO — Moody’s Investors Service affirmed Ames’ top rating ahead of its sale today of $6.7 million of general obligation bonds, saying the Iowa city’s credit strengths outweigh concerns over the near-term fiscal stress posed by recent flooding in the region.

CHICAGO — Top-rated Hennepin County, Minn., will competitively sell $128 million of general obligation debt today in a deal that will tap both the Build America Bond and recovery zone economic development bond programs.

Moody's Investor's Service last week lowered Whitefish Bay School District one notch to Aa3 and assigned a stable outlook following the district board's decision to renege on its moral obligation pledge to repay asset-backed notes issued by its non-pension retiree health care trust.

The City Colleges of Chicago has proposed a $457.5 million operating budget for fiscal 2011 and a $139 million capital budget to finance infrastructure and technology improvements.