Illinois

Rating agencies delivered mixed news to Illinois Friday as the state's failure to overhaul its pension system prompted a downgrade from Standard & Poor's while Moody's affirmed.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board approved two slates of financial teams to underwrite roughly $1 billion of toll-backed borrowing planned in its next two financings.

Two hospitals in Chicago's western suburbs — Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare and Edward Hospital & Health Services — are the latest to merge, joining the two-year-old surge nationally of not-for-profit healthcare consolidation.

Illinois' $500 million sale next week offers a fresh view into the market's appetite for yield verses risk as investors digest a barrage of negative fiscal news from pension reform stuck in political muck to a warning that state coffers are running precariously low.

Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts unveiled a $300 million privately-financed renovation of the nearly 100-year-old Wrigley Field that could be paid for with new premium seating and additional advertising signage revenues, along with more night games and concerts.

The FAA has cleared the path for Chicago to consider privatizing Midway International Airport, allowing for its release of a request for qualifications from potential bidders.

Illinois will take competitive bids on $500 million of GOs later this month in its first borrowing of the New Year and first test of market reaction to the General Assembly's failure to overhaul pensions.

The Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois board approved its $3.7 billion 2013 budget on Wednesday after resolving a standoff with one of its service boards over its plans to borrow $1 billion over the next five years.

A long-awaited review of the state of Chicago's retiree healthcare system concludes that the cash-strapped city can't afford to keep subsidizing its other post-employment benefits at existing levels.

Standard & Poor's last week raised the Chicago Housing Authority's issuer credit rating one notch to AA following criteria changes.

A Chicago Public Schools-appointed commission on school closures last week offered a preliminary recommendation that no high schools face shuttering.

DePaul University in Chicago won an upgrade from Moody's Investors Service Monday in recognition of its consistent positive operating performance and established student market.

The Illinois RTA accused American Airlines and United Airlines of avoiding $300 million in sales taxes over the last seven years by conducting some business in "sham" offices set up outside of Cook County.

Fitch Ratings put Illinois on notice Friday that its A level general obligation rating faces a downgrade without action over the next six months to solve its pension funding crisis.

Chicago named members of a special advisory panel charged with protecting the public's interest in a possible lease of Midway International Airport.

The Chicago Infrastructure Trust board approved the addition of six advisory members Thursday as it gears up to solicit private market interest in funding energy efficiency upgrades to city facilities and public schools.

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced new-money and refunding deals planned by Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and the Franciscan Communities Inc. in the coming months.

Sycamore Advisors LLC, one of Indiana's top financial advisors, hired Courtney Tobin, a Georgia-based former Indiana public finance official, to help expand the firm's footprint in the southeast and Chicago.

Illinois lawmakers adjourned a lame-duck session after failing to fix the state's pension crisis, leaving the $95 billion unfunded pension mess to the newly inaugurated Illinois General.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle last week touted the repeal of a 1% sales tax increase that had made the sales tax rate in Cook and Chicago among the highest in the nation.