Yvette Shields

CHICAGO — The Illinois Finance Authority gave preliminary approval this week to the Seneca I-80 Railport Development LLC’s proposed $576 million issue. The move advances development efforts for the proposed freight-transfer facility that is seeking an allocation of tax-exempt, private activity bonding under the federal government’s $15 billion pilot program.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn warned the state faces its worst “financial calamity” ever and said he would push for tax code reforms that raise revenue in a “fair way” in his state of the state address yesterday.

CHICAGO — The Metropolitan Sewer District of St. Louis will sell $85 million of revenue bonds today, tapping the Build America Bond program to raise funds for its long-term $6 billion capital improvement program.

CHICAGO — Faced with rising debt service costs and sagging tourism revenues, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority will ask Illinois lawmakers who return to work today for the power to restructure its debt and extend a state debt-service subsidy.

Moody’s Investors Service has placed Coon Rapids’ $1.8 million of multifamily housing revenue refunding bonds for the Pine Point Apartments project on watch due to a possible default based on the transaction’s asset-to-debt ratio and projected cash flows.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Wartburg College’s Series 2005A private facility revenue bonds to BB from BBB-minus with a negative outlook due to a weakened financial profile. The bonds were sold in 2005 through the Iowa Higher Education Loan Authority.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley last week replaced his chief of staff Paul Volpe with Raymond Orozco, who had led the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Volpe will become budget director of the Chicago Transit Authority.

CHICAGO — New York City-based M.R. Beal & Co. has hired former Fitch Ratings analyst Joseph O’Keefe to promote its Chicago-area banking efforts as it seeks to carve out a larger piece of Midwestern business, especially in a senior manager’s position.

CHICAGO — After escaping punishment from rating agencies for dipping into reserves to erase its budget deficit, Chicago will enter the market this week with $770 million of new-money and refunding general obligation bonds in a transaction that marks the city’s first use of federal stimulus bonding programs.

CHICAGO — St. Louis-based Stern Brothers & Co. this week announced four new additions to its analytic staff, institutional sales team, and health care banking groups, with an eye toward adding more than a dozen additional professionals to its various groups as the year progresses.

CHICAGO — The battle for the Democratic nod in the Illinois governor’s race centered on state finances yesterday as Comptroller Dan Hynes — Gov. Pat Quinn’s primary rival — issued a warning over the state’s dire fiscal condition, including $5.1 billion in unpaid bills and the looming repayment of $2.25 billion of cash-flow notes.

CHICAGO — After spending the week in a heavy marketing campaign that includes international buyers, Illinois on Thursday or Friday will price nearly $3.5 billion of taxable general obligation bonds with a five-year maturity to help cover its fiscal 2010 pension payments.

The resilience of Wisconsin’s economy in recent years and the state’s proven ability to adjust its budget when faced with revenue fluctuations supports its AA rating, analysts said in a recent state review from Standard & Poor’s.

Fitch Ratings late last month downgraded Brentwood’s tax increment financing refunding and improvement revenue bonds issued for its Brentwood Square Project to BBB-plus from A-minus due in part to the project’s exposure to retail volatility. The action affects $9.3 million of outstanding debt sold in 2005.

Standard & Poor’s last month revised its outlook to stable from negative on Decatur Memorial Hospital’s A credit due to the restoration of profitability.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation’s rating to A-plus from A in recognition of its sustained operating profitability and positive volume trends.

CHICAGO — Chicago-based Women in Public Finance will recognize three industry professionals — a rating agency analyst, the deceased founder of a prominent financial advisory firm, and the deputy treasurer of California — at its annual awards reception later this month.

CHICAGO — Redwood Capital Investments LLC’s successful bid Wednesday to acquire most of bankrupt Erickson Retirement Communities’ assets did not include the Monarch Landing, Sedgebrook, and Linden Ponds facilities so the fate of their municipal debt now becomes the focus of a new round of negotiations.

CHICAGO — Redwood Capital Investments LLC’s successful bid Wednesday to acquire most of bankrupt Erickson Retirement Communities’ assets did not include the Monarch Landing, Sedgebrook, and Linden Ponds facilities so the fate of their municipal debt now becomes the focus of a new round of negotiations.

The Skokie, Ill.-based health care advisory firm Kaufman Hall & Associates Inc. will close out a busy 2009 with two new partners after promoting its head of the mergers and acquisitions group, Kit Kamholz, to the senior status and earlier this year hiring former banker James Blake.