Illinois

Moody's Investors Service delivered a sharp blow to Chicago's general obligation and sales tax rating Tuesday, dropping them down to Baa1 over the city's mounting unfunded pension woes that threaten its "fiscal solvency."

The Illinois Supreme Court ordered that four pending lawsuits challenging the legality of the state's pension overhaul be consolidated and handled by the Sangamon County Circuit Court.

Fresh from raising $1 billion from a general obligation sale last month, Illinois returns to the market next week with a $402 million taxable revenue-backed issue as the state wrestles with an expiring income tax increase.

Chicago may share some of the same fiscal ills – from large pension burdens to budget deficits -- as bankrupt Detroit but they differ sharply when it comes to overall credit quality, Standard & Poor's stresses in a report released Thursday.

Chicago will hold on to its A-plus rating from Standard & Poor's rating as it heads to market with a $400 million general obligation sale, its first since being hit with triple-notch downgrades last year by Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service over its pension crisis.

Midwestern volume dwindled by 18.1 % in 2013 to $59.1 billion from nearly $72.2 billion a year earlier as rising interest rates sapped refunding opportunities and lackluster new-money issuance did little to offset the drop.

Public pension plans should not be funded with instruments that bear risk or delay cash funding such as pension obligation bonds, a panel commissioned by the Society of Actuaries warned in a report released Monday

Budget season in Illinois kicked into gear this week with Democrats and Republicans trading barbs over the shape of the next budget and the how the state should deal with an projected $3 billion deficit due to the looming rollback of an income tax hike.

Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois board chairman John Gates announced Wednesday he would step down from the post at the end of his term in June.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn unveiled the draft of a five-year plan to overhaul its Medicaid program in hopes of snaring $5.2 billion in additional federal funding.

Jones Day's Chicago-based not-for-profit and healthcare group have left en masse to join Chicago-based Chapman and Cutler LLP in a move that marks a return home for eight of the nine lawyers that made the leap.

Standard & Poor's stripped investment grade ratings from Lombard, Ill. for failing to honor its appropriation commitment on bonds for a hotel and conference center that hasn't generated revenue to repay $190 million in borrowing.

The Illinois Finance Authority board gave preliminary approval to a nearly $200 million financing planned by Centegra Health System to build a new hospital far northwest of Chicago.

The fiscal condition of pension systems for Chicago, its sister governments, Cook County, and the state's municipal pension fund deteriorated in 2012, a report said.

Cadence Health and Rockford Health System, two Illinois hospital systems that signed a letter of intent to merge in November, have decided cancel the proposed union.

Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago won an upgrade from Standard & Poor's in recognition of its improved balance sheet and successful transition to its replacement hospital.

Illinois put a price tag of $60 million on the savings on its $1 billion general obligation sale Thursday attributed largely to investors rewarding the state for a recently enacted pension overhaul.

The Chicago City Council approved the appointment of a new comptroller and up to $1.9 billion of general obligation and Midway Airport borrowing at its meeting Wednesday.

Illinois' $1 billion general obligation sale Thursday is expected to benefit from improved investor appeal following a pension system overhaul but ratings agencies haven't altered their Illinois ratings.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn wants to push back the scheduled Feb. 19 release of his fiscal 2015 budget until March 26.