Illinois

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.

Chicago’s public safety pension funds reported modest growth in their net liabilities in 2015 compared with the big jump at the city’s two other funds.

Junk-rated Chicago Public Schools borrowed $150 million through a private placement Friday, a move that allowed it to bypass a public offering.

Poised for Growth, San Diego and Chicago-based fund manager Gurtin Fixed Income Management promoted Michael Johnson to co-CEO.

Boosted by new grant funding, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, led by new executive director Michael Belsky, wants to raise its voice on municipal finance research and education.

S&P Global Ratings dropped Western Illinois University two notches to BBB-minus, citing the state's prolonged budget mess.

Moody's Investors Service said it has downgraded the village of Oak Park, Ill.'s general obligation rating and sales tax revenue rating to A1 from Aa3 affecting $85 million in rated debt.

Chicago isn’t on the “brink” of a financial collapse that could drive a default or bankruptcy but its pension fixes to date fall far short of stabilizing the city’s fiscal foundation, an analyst said.

A court ruling Thursday offered a mixed outcome for Chicago’s effort to phase out most retiree healthcare subsidies.

Chicago plans to sell up to $3.5 billion of O’Hare International Airport debt later this year to generate refunding savings and fund a new runway and gate expansion.

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is hosting a reception Thursday to honor the memory of bond lawyer and public finance banker George Pitt who died in March.

Chicago-based Presence Health Network will issue nearly $1 billion of bonds next week in a sale designed to overhaul its debt portfolio and provide some breathing room to help stabilize its balance sheet.

Junk-rated Chicago Public Schools is using risky assumptions in its efforts to erase a $1 billion deficit, S&P Global Ratings said as it extended its CreditWatch on the district.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will get new gates and ultimately could see an aging terminal demolished and rebuilt to serve as a central hub under initiatives formally unveiled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel Friday.

Illinois will spend $2.5 billion more then it expects to collect in the coming months, putting it on course to end December with a bill backlog of $10 billion, the state comptroller warned.