Illinois

Puerto Rico's insolvency is a game changer that will have a deep and far-reaching impact on the market, municipal professionals said Tuesday at a Bond Buyer conference in Chicago.

Cook County, Ill., Board President Toni Preckwinkle Tuesday formally proposed raising the sales tax to shore up the county's $6.5 billion pension shortfall, saying it's necessary because Springfield has refused to pass her reform proposal.

Illinois lawmakers convene Tuesday for a discussion on the impact of the partial government shutdown that looms due to a continuing budget impasse.

Clark Burrus, counsel to multiple Chicago mayors and mentor to countless public finance professionals, died this month. He was 86. He was remembered for both his financial and political acumen at funeral services last week.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is issuing up to $400 million of toll-backed revenue bonds next month, the first of two new-money borrowings to finance a record year of capital spending.

Illinois Democrats warned that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto Thursday of all but education spending bills in the fiscal 2016 budget moves the state closer to a partial governmental shutdown.

The Chicago Board of Education approved resolutions authorizing $1.135 billion of short term tax anticipation note and warrant-backed borrowing to manage its precarious liquidity position.

While a state budget impasse otherwise shows no signs of easing, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner did sign off on education spending for the next fiscal year.

The Chicago Public Schools’ efforts to ease a liquidity squeeze with a bill to delay a pension payment failed amid the ongoing clash between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Chicago’s school system is trying to avert a liquidity crisis through two short-term fixes to provide breathing room as it pursues long-term solutions to its pension and budget ills.

Public finance attorney Maribel Mata Benedict has joined Detroit-based law firm Miller Canfield in the firm's Chicago office from Katten Muchin Rosenman.

The cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools is pushing off release of its fiscal 2016 budget and looking at $1.1 billion of tax anticipation and note borrowing through new credit lines as it struggles to stay afloat.

Gilmore & Bell PC, one of the top-ranked Midwestern bond counsel firms, has formally landed in Illinois with the opening a downstate office in Edwardsville, the law firm said Monday.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle Monday announced she has tapped a Chicago Park District executive to act as the county’s new budget chief.

Midwestern University is making private loans to students in partnership with the Glendale Industrial Development Authority and the Illinois Finance Authority, which are coming to market with a total of $30 million of bonds that will fund additional lending.

Lombard, Ill.'s village board isn’t budging from its longstanding position not to make up a shortfall in revenues needed for debt service on its $190 million of defaulted hotel and conference center bonds.

Illinois’ Democrats and Republicans heaped praise on retiring Auditor General William Holland for his office’s independence analysis.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is moving up by one month release of a 2016 budget that is expected to address how the city intends to tackle a spike in pension contributions.

Illinois lawmakers plan to begin sending off bills that make up a $36.3 billion fiscal 2016 budget to Gov. Bruce Rauner next week, three weeks after they adopted a spending plan labeled by the GOP leader as “phony.”

A federal judge Tuesday said federal approval of a controversial $1.5 billion toll road between Indiana and Illinois was “arbitrary and capricious” and in violation of federal environmental law.