Illinois

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn released an analysis this week warning that the state's rising pension payments will surpass school aid by fiscal 2016 without pension reforms.

Chicago plans to enter the market Wednesday with the first piece of $1.2 billion of O'Hare International Airport refunding debt in a deal expected to generate double-digit savings while also streamlining the airport's lien structure. The city will sell $769 million of GARBs Wednesday and follow up later in the month with $443 million of PFCs.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Wednesday investment banker Steven Koch will replace departing deputy mayor Mark Angelson - who focused on economic, business, and budget issues - next month.

Cook County won AAA rating from S&P on its sales-tax backed bond deal, a new pledge that allows the county to distance itself from the woes of Illinois and its own general obligation rating.

Chicago heads into next year's budget season with $369 million of red ink to erase, a figure down by half from what Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his finance team faced as they crafted their inaugural budget last year.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded its underlying rating on Illinois' Douglas and Champaign Counties Community Unit School District 301 two notches to Baa1 and assigned a negative outlook. The action affects $5.4 million of debt.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare's rating one level to BBB-plus and warned of impending further negative action by placing it on rating watch negative, due to the Illinois hospital's financial performance.

Illinois Gov. Quinn on Monday called a special legislative session for mid-August, pressing lawmakers to act on elusive pension reforms needed to help stave off further credit deterioration and spare schools, healthcare, and public safety spending from further cuts.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board approved a pool of 10 law firms to work on its bond sales as it embarks on a 15-year $12 billion capital program.

The mayors of Milwaukee and Gary, Ind. discussed ways to increase regional cooperation and redefine the region as the country's "Fresh Coast" during a panel sponsored by the Chicago non-profit Metropolitan Planning Council.

Cook County commissioners Tuesday gave the administration the green light to issue up to $100 million of sales-tax backed bonds, a first-of-its-kind deal for the nation's second-largest county.

Illinois collected about $576 million more in fiscal 2012 than earlier predicted, the Illinois Commission on Forecasting and Accountability reported in its review of fiscal year-end results.

Moody's Investors Service said this week Chrysler's improved performance and production at its Belvidere plant in the Rockford, Ill., metropolitan region is a credit positive for the area.

The Government Finance Officers Association gave its annual Distinguished Budget Presentation award to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

Moody's knocked $6.5 billion of Chicago O'Hare international Airport general airport revenue bonds down one notch due to the airport's high leverage, narrow financial margins, and economic and construction risks tied to its ongoing $8 billion expansion.

The recently approved Chicago Infrastructure Trust won't replace long-term debt financing, but will allow the city to avoid the controversial act of privatizing public infrastructure, Mayor Rahm Emanuel told guests at a Washington D.C. think tank on Friday.

The Chicago region could unsnarl its traffic mess and generate $2 billion in economic activity by 2040 by undertaking 11 major road construction projects with a $52 billion price tag paid for with new toll and user fees, according to a report from the California think tank the Reason Foundation.

The former - and first - head of the Illinois Finance Authority Ali Ata received probation from a federal judge this week for his role in a state public corruption scandal that eventually landed former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in prison.

Moody's Investors Service earlier this month downgraded Chicago's $578 million of sales tax-backed bonds to Aa3 from Aa2, due primarily to a lack of legal separation between the pledged sales tax revenues and the city's general operations.

Fitch Ratings raised the Rush University Medical Center Obligated Group one notch to A in recognition of its consistently strong profitability and the completion of its new patient tower, eliminating construction risks on the credit.