Illinois

Chicago's decision to delay and rejigger $800 million of borrowing stems from the city's desire for more control over pricing scales following the city's downgrade to junk, sources said.

Nearly two weeks after the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2013 pension overhaul, state lawmakers, local government leaders, and legal experts struggle for an alternative the court would accept.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle is urging Illinios lawmakers to approve county pension reform, saying it can withstand the legal challenges that doomed the state’s own efforts.

Chicago will delay a $380 million market appearance for at least a week, and may tinker with the deals’ size and composition.

Standard & Poor's hit Chicago’s water and sewer revenue bonds with a three-notch downgrade Monday due to concerns over the liquidity pressures posed Moody’s Investors Service’s downgrade.

With its battered credit threatened by more downgrades, Chicago heads into the bond market with a new sense of urgency to convert its floating-rate general obligation debt to fixed.

Veteran Chicago-based public finance banker Carole Brown is headed to City Hall to take charge of the city’s battered finances as chief financial officer.

Fitch Ratings dropped Chicago's general obligation and sales tax ratings to BBB-plus from A-minus and placed them on Negative Watch over the liquidity risks posed by the city’s drop to junk by Moody’s Investors Service and its lowering of water and sewer bonds.

Standard & Poor's hit Chicago with a two-notch downgrade and warned of the possibility for a further drop by placing its ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications due to the liquidity pressures posed by its downgrade to junk by Moody's Investors Services.

Expect more downgrades for Chicago after Moody’s Investors Service dropped the city to junk, creating new liquidity concerns, warns Nuveen Asset Management LLC.

Moody’s Investors Service labeled the Illinois Supreme Court’s voiding of the state’s 2013 pension system overhaul a “credit negative” for the state’s A3 bond rating.

Chicago’s bonds lost value, some dramatically, Wednesday in the first market session following its fall into speculative grade territory.

Moody's Investors Service stripped the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Park District of their investment grade ratings, lowering both by three levels after sinking Chicago’s city government to junk a day earlier.

Arguing time is the enemy, Chicago attorneys successfully argued for a fast-track hearing on a pair of lawsuits challenging pension reforms that took effect in January.

Chicago officials are scrambling to salvage short-term credit lines and liquidity arrangements after Moody's Investors Service downgraded its bonds, which triggered events in the city's credit contracts allowing banks to demand as much as $2.2 billion.

Moody's Investors Service Tuesday downgraded Chicago to junk-level Ba1.

Chicago, preparing to remarket bonds, again has warned investors of its laundry list of fiscal challenges, newly topped by the potential blow to its own pension reform efforts posed by a ruling last week from the Illinois Supreme Court.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has tapped veteran aviation official Ginger Evans from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to take the helm of the city's Aviation Department.

Last week’s Illinois Supreme Court ruling voiding legislation that overhauled the state’s pension system ratchets up pressure on the state’s leaders to fix the state’s out-of- balance budget.

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday struck down legislation that had overhauled state employee pensions, leaving the state burdened with enormous pension liabilities.