Illinois

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.

The junk-rated Chicago school district plans to return to the municipal bond market to raise funds for needed capital work, the district’s leader said.

The private operator of partially bond-financed rail-freight transfer facility would provide most of the funding for a new toll bridge under a public-private agreement struck with Illinois.

The long-term principal and interest payment schedule for Chicago's general obligation debt swelled by about $1.7 billion last year, according to the city's comprehensive annual financial report.

A judge is expected to rule this month on Chicago's latest effort to quash a lawsuit filed by retired city employees who want to preserve their healthcare subsidies.

Chicago’s first mistake in its much-maligned parking meter lease was its choice of asset, says a new report that compares the city’s P3 deal to the Indiana Toll Road.

Southern Illinois University took a second rating hit over the strain of managing through the state’s prolonged budget gridlock.

CHICAGO – Illinois is asking underwriters vying for future senior manager work for advice on how best to capitalize on stopgap budget legislation that allows for the issuance of as much as $2 billion of refunding debt.

While Cook County, Ill. plots out its new money borrowing planned for later this year, finance officials will also work to close a looming $174 million gap.

Passage of a stopgap Illinois budget that keeps the spigot of aid at least partially flowing to the state's cash hungry public universities this year was overshadowed by fresh credit erosion.