Illinois

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority's triple-A Standard & Poor's rating became a victim of the Illinois budget impasse, getting a seven-notch downgrade.

Chicago's rising pension and debt service tabs, and a persistent, albeit shrinking, operating deficit, pose a long-term strain to the city's balance sheet, the city says in its annual financial overview.

Chicago heads into 2016 budget season in need of $754 million to cover an operating deficit and higher pension contributions, according to figures released by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Moody's Investors Service stripped Kankakee County, Ill., of its investment grade rating over its fiscal struggles and warned it might not stop at the Ba3 level.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge denied Chicago’s request to keep its court-voided pension reforms in place pending an appeal.

The Chicago Transit Authority enters the market next week with a $176 million issue to refund some of its federal grant-backed debt for savings.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel submitted bonding ordinances to authorize up to $2 billion of O’Hare airport borrowing as well as $675 million of general obligation and wastewater debt.

Senate leaders are raising concerns over legislation passed by the House and supported by Gov. Bruce Rauner that halts cost-of-living pay raises for Illinois lawmakers in the current fiscal year.

Chicago officials warned state lawmakers that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s sweeping statewide pension proposal offers Chicago Public Schools only a temporary salve.

Cook County, Ill.'s president won't support Gov. Bruce Rauner's pension reforms even though they give the cash-strapped county many of the reforms it wants, because it would also mean supporting the governor's anti-union measures.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants to leave the door open for a possible U.S. Supreme Court appeal after the state's high court voided a state pension system overhaul.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the Chicago Board of Education’s $6 billion of general obligation debt down to junk Monday.

Three years after its much ballyhooed launch by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, slow to get off the ground, is getting a makeover.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge declared Chicago’s overhaul of two of its four pension funds to be unconstitutional and void in its entirety.

The Illinois legislative audit commission has formally launched its search for candidates to replace retiring auditor general William Holland.

Cook County, Il. won rare praise from a ratings agency Thursday when Moody’s Investors Service said a new sales tax increase to pay off pensions is a credit positive.

The Chicago Board of Education authorized $1.16 billion of borrowing to pay for ongoing capital projects, to cancel swaps, and refund debt for budget relief.

The Illinois Senate president called on Gov. Bruce Rauner to offer a new, balanced budget for fiscal 2016, warning that, without action, the state’s battered credit faces a further hit.

Illinois debt manager Jessica Akey is leaving state government to join Standard & Poor’s, multiple public finance sources said.

A federal appellate panel tossed five of 18 corruption-related counts that landed former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a 14-year sentence in 2011.