Yvette Shields

CHICAGO — Chicago and its philanthropic foundations have established the Chicago Recovery Partnership, a unique union aimed at speeding up the distribution, use, and then tracking and review of federal stimulus to benefit the city and its not-for-profit community.

CHICAGO — Iowa Gov. Chet Culver yesterday ordered an across-the-board 10% cut in spending to wipe out a shortfall in the state’s $6.3 billion fiscal 2010 budget due to dwindling revenue collections.

CHICAGO — Chicago expects to tap an array of federal stimulus debt programs in its sales of up to $2.85 billion of new-money and refunding general obligation and airport bonds that were submitted to the City Council for approval yesterday, chief financial officer Gene Saffold said.

CHICAGO — Froedtert & Community Health Inc. enters the market today to issue $187 million of revenue bonds to restructure some remaining insured auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand bonds and raise new money for various projects.

CHICAGO — Moving to reshape the state’s budget office after eight months in office, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn appointed his senior fiscal adviser David Vaught to the state’s top fiscal post this week amid dire warnings from the comptroller that Illinois faces a cash-flow crisis with $3 billion in unpaid bills.

A Republican legislator this week floated a plan to seek a constitutional amendment to allow slot machines at Minnesota’s two horse tracks to fund construction of a new Vikings football stadium.

Amid a warning last week that revenue collections for the first quarter of the fiscal year are down $140 million, Iowa’s revenue estimating conference meets today to issue a new revenue projection.

Standard & Poor’s upgraded the University of Northern Iowa’s academic building revenue bonds one notch to A-plus in recognition of its strong state support. The school’s dormitory revenue bonds were affirmed at BBB-plus.

CHICAGO — Chicago enters the market today to refund $90.5 million of sales tax revenue bonds for savings that will help chip away at the red ink that drove Fitch Ratings’ decision to put a negative outlook on the city’s general obligation and sales tax-backed credits.

CHICAGO — The International Olympic Committee in its first round of voting Friday dashed Chicago’s $48 million push to host the 2016 Summer Games, an effort championed by Mayor Richard Daley as a means to highlight Chicago as a world-class city while spurring job creation and economic development across the region.

CHICAGO — Underwriters interested in working on Chicago Transit Authority bond sales over the next two years have until Oct. 13 to submit their qualifications for review.

CHICAGO — Fitch Ratings revised its outlook on Chicago’s general obligation credit to negative, delivering what was the second dose of bad news for the city on Friday following the International Olympic Committee’s rejection of its bid to host the 2016 Summer Games.

CHICAGO — Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets LLC has cemented a partnership with UBS Wealth Management US to provide primary municipal securities to UBS’ retail clients in a move Loop is hoping will bolster its appeal with borrowers looking to capitalize on retail’s heightened prominence in the market.

CHICAGO — Minnesota heads into the market with a rare revenue-backed issue beginning on Monday when it will take retail orders on $60 million of bonds to fund its ongoing efforts to establish a statewide digital-radio communications system for public safety personnel.

CHICAGO - Budget hearings begin next week on Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's proposed $1.5 billion 2010 budget that includes plans to accelerate borrowing to take advantage of federal stimulus programs.

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley yesterday recommended Terry Peterson - the former chief executive officer of the Chicago Housing Authority - to lead the Chicago Transit Authority board following public finance banker Carole Brown's departure.

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare last week announced its plan to sign an affiliation agreement with Lake Forest Hospital to form an integrated system.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration said this week it plans to appeal a court ruling halting hundreds of layoffs that were to take effect this week in order to help balance the fiscal 2010 budget.

Chicago reported last week that its key revenue sources are down $183 million from projections, putting them on track to fall $302 million short of budgeted levels at the end of the year.

CHICAGO - St. Louis-based Edward Jones has added a handful of municipal professionals to its ranks over the last year and is looking to further boost its banking staff as the retail brokerage seeks to parlay its specialty into new business given the heightened attention now on retail buyers.