Illinois

The Illinois Finance Authority heads into the market Tuesday with $500 million of top-rated state revolving fund bonds to pave the way for more low cost loans for local clean water and drinking water projects.

Illinois achieved about $56 million in present value savings on the refunding portion of its nearly $550 high-grade, sales tax backed deal that sold competitively Thursday.

The junk-rated Chicago Board of Education authorized up to $1.5 billion in short-term and $945 million of long-term borrowing and signed off on a $5.4 billion budget despite warnings that the plan relies on precarious assumptions.

Illinois’ largest retirement fund will review its assumed investment rate Friday amid a warning from Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration that lowering it from 7.5% could have a “devastating” impact on funding for social services and education.

The issuers of the Midwest sold $41 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2016, spurred by increased new money issuance, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Chicago Public Schools is seeking a $400 million increase to its short term borrowing capacity to help manage its strained liquidity.

City Colleges of Chicago suffered a two-notch downgrade after it drew down reserves to balance its books amid uncertainty over the timing and size of future state funding.

An Illinois-based joint power agency heads into the market to refund $250 million of debt tied to the controversial coal-fired Prairie State Energy Campus.

A new coalition of labor and business is hoping to persuade Illinois voters to support a constitutional amendment that would halt the diversion of transportation-related revenue.

Chicago's junk-rated school district scheduled a public hearing next week on a request for $945 million of borrowing authorization.

Political gridlock has stymied attempts to overhaul pensions across the nation, most notably in the two lowest-rated states, New Jersey and Illinois.

Illinois' fiscal reckoning arrived after years of disguising its structural budget woes in large part by shortchanging its pension system, says a new piece from the Chicago Federal Reserve.

Illinois officials are asking road builders for input on a P3 project to add toll lanes to an existing interstate highway.

Illinois will return to the market with $573 million of new money and refunding bonds under a higher-rated sales tax-backed credit.

Chicago Public Schools unveiled a $5.4 billion budget that district officials call “balanced” though it relies on concessions the teachers’ union hasn’t accepted and the state making good on pledged pension help.

Chicago’s proposal to rescue its municipal pension fund from looming insolvency with a new water/sewer tax is a positive step that if finalized could stabilize the city’s rating, S&P Global Ratings said.

Governors State University lost its investment grade rating in the latest credit fallout to hit Illinois higher education institutions from the state’s budget mess.

At its recent investors’ conference, Chicago impressed analysts with a new plan to rescue the largest of the city’s four pension funds, but several attendees said the smooth presentations didn’t erase their worries about the city’s pensions and its budget.

Chicago plans a tax on water and sewer services to save its largest pension fund from insolvency, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced.

Chicago is selling a positive budget message at its annual investor conference Wednesday, but the theme is obscured by the city’s pension albatross.