Illinois

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.

The Illinois Finance Authority is rolling out a new financing program to help smaller hospitals purchase equipment and meet federal healthcare record-keeping mandates.

Swap termination fees are among the items to be financed under a $1.16 billion general obligation bond authorization that is up for a Chicago Board of Education vote.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it is monitoring the Chicago Board of Education's plans for fiscal 2016 and its efforts to bring expenditures in line with revenue.

Steep junk-level yield penalties drew strong interest in Chicago's $347 tax-exempt sale Thursday which followed the city's pricing of $743 million of taxable securities a day earlier.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel rolled out a new leadership team for the fiscally beleaguered Chicago Public Schools that will be led by his recently appointed chief of staff, Forrest Claypool.

lllinois' Senate Democrats pushed through a one-month $2.26 billion budget and overrode Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoes on $2.3 billion of spending in their fiscal 2016 budget.

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday priced Chicago's $746 million of taxable general obligation securities with the deal's long bond paying a yield 485 basis points over the 30-year U.S. Treasury rate.

The board of Cook County, home to Chicago, approved a controversial sales tax increase that will go largely to fund the county's troubled pensions system.

Former Cook County CFO and Illinois Rep. Henry Woods “Woody” Bowman died in a car crash in Michigan on July 10.

Chicago shouldn't expect much of a break for resolving its credit deterioration-driven liquidity crisis when it sells $1.1 billion of tax-exempt and taxable bonds this week, as investors await a resolution on more daunting pension funding and budgetary ills.

Chicago Public Schools is banking on $500 million in state pension help to avoid deeper cost cuts and more borrowing in fiscal 2016, officials said Monday as they released neighborhood school budgets.

Chicago Public Schools and its teachers’ fund have ended negotiations over the district’s request to defer $500 million of its fiscal 2016 contribution, the two announced in a joint statement.