Illinois

CHICAGO - Chicago enters the market this week with $412 million of new-money general obligation bonds ahead of an expected vote next week on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first spending plan.

CHICAGO - Novi, Mich.-based Trinity Health's possible acquisition of the stand-alone, 159-year-old Mercy Health System, based in Chicago, last week advanced when the two Catholic health care providers announced they had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to negotiate a union.

CHICAGO - A prominent fiscal watchdog group in Chicago is praising Cook County, Ill.'s proposed $2.9 billion 2012 budget for closing a $315 million deficit but warns that a chronic structural gap will continue to mount without more action.

CHICAGO - The chief financial officer of pharmaceutical wholesale company H. D. Smith will take over as CFO of Chicago Public Schools next week.

CHICAGO - Moody's Investors Service warned Thursday that Illinois' crackdown on the property-tax exemptions of nonprofit hospitals over the amount of charity care they provide could pose a credit threat to the sector here.

CHICAGO - Two large Chicago-area health care systems announced Wednesday they have finalized a merger that will create the largest Catholic health care network in Illinois.

A Chicago government review group has endorsed DuPage County’s proposed $435 million 2012 budget in recognition of its efforts to cut spending and hold its property tax levy steady.

CHICAGO - Chicago will tap its high-rated sales tax credit this week to primarily refund general obligation bonds in a $238 million deal that marks the inaugural market outing by new Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration.

CHICAGO - Cook County, Ill., Board President Toni Preckwinkle Tuesday proposed a $2.9 billion all-funds budget for fiscal 2012 that closes a $315 million shortfall with a mix of cuts and tax and fee increases.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week announced agreements with two McCormick Place Convention Center labor unions, solidifying reforms enacted last year.

After conducting a national search, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week named former chief operating officer and interim superintendent Michael Kelly as the superintendent of the Chicago Park District.

CHICAGO - The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is losing its two board members with public finance backgrounds — including William Morris, who opposed a planned rate hike — just as the agency prepares to embark on a $12 billion capital program that relies on $4.8 billion in borrowing.

CHICAGO - Illinois lawmakers return Tuesday for their annual veto session facing a crowded agenda topped by a revamped gambling expansion bill, budget changes, pension reforms and ongoing talks over whether the state should borrow to pay down its bills.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Transit Authority heads to market as soon as Wednesday with $456 million of sales tax revenue bonds and as much as $96 million of new-money and refunding capital grant-backed bonds to fund the purchase of rail cars.

CHICAGO - The two-banker public finance team that covered the Michigan market for Mesirow Financial Inc. has joined Chicago-based Hutchinson Shockey Erley & Co. after Mesirow's closure of its Michigan office a few months ago.

CHICAGO - Illinois will test for a range of investor appetites with its competitive sale of $300 million of sales-tax backed bonds on Tuesday by offering to accept both tax-exempt and taxable bids on the issue.

Standard & Poor’s has revised its outlook on Rush University Medical Center Obligated Group’s underlying A-minus rating to positive in recognition of its operating performance and a reduction in construction risks as it nears completion on a new patient tower.

CHICAGO - Warning he would veto the current version of a gambling expansion bill, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn Monday handed lawmakers an alternative plan that scales back the number of new gaming sites, imposes state regulatory control over a new Chicago casino, and sweetens fiscal benefits for the state.

CHICAGO - With its coffers bolstered by an income tax increase, Illinois has whittled down its backlog of bills to $3.8 billion from $5.5 billion at this time last year, but Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka warned in her quarterly report that "staggering fiscal challenges remain."

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled a $6.3 billion 2012 budget Wednesday that whittles away a $635 million deficit with new revenue from a series of increases in fees, fines and taxes not including property or sales taxes, along with debt refunding savings, management reforms, and spending and job cuts.