Illinois

CHICAGO — St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James & Associates is hoping to carve out a bigger chunk of senior-manager business in the Midwest with two new public finance hires in Chicago, one to bolster the firm's local government team here and the other to focus on large governmental issuers.

CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools unveiled a proposed $5.9 billion fiscal 2012 budget on Friday that closes a $712 million deficit through a mix of administrative and program cuts, a property tax increase, and with $241 million in reserves.

CHICAGO - With no near-term plans to resurrect his predecessor's proposed lease of Midway Airport to private operators, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to leave the door open to it by asking the Federal Aviation Administration to preserve its approved slot under a pilot program.

CHICAGO - Accompanying his announcement last week that Chicago faces a $635.7 million gap in its next budget, freshman Mayor Rahm Emanuel also released a 54-page report that lays bare the city's stark fiscal woes in plain English for all eyes, from the voting public to investors and analysts.

The Chicago City Council last week approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel ethics ordinance imposing new rules on city lobbyists, including public finance bankers, financial advisers, and lawyers who seek work on city bond sales.

CHICAGO - Chicago faces a $635.7 million budget gap in 2012 that could rise to nearly $800 million in 2014 if the city doesn't take steps to better align its spending and revenues, Mayor Rahm Emanuel warned Friday in announcing preliminary budget figures.

CHICAGO - With its seven-year-old $6 billion capital program nearing completion, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority on Thursday unveiled a follow-up $12 billion, 15-year plan that relies on a toll increase to help repay an estimated $4.8 billion of new borrowing.

CHICAGO - Cook County, Ill., faces a nearly 16% shortfall in its general fund next year as revenues continue to fall, officials said yesterday as they unveiled preliminary 2012 budget numbers.

CHICAGO - The Cook County, Ill., Board of Commissioners Wednesday approved a master bond ordinance that clears the way for the new administration's first finance team and its first market ­transaction.

Gov. Pat Quinn last week made four appointments to the board of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, including former state Senate President Emil Jones Jr. as its chairman.

CHICAGO - The top-rated College of DuPage in Illinois will hold its first-ever retail order period Tuesday for $105 million of mostly new-money bonds that will finance various building improvement and maintenance projects, including the completion of its Homeland Security Education Center.

CHICAGO - In a sign of Illinois' ongoing fiscal challenges, its net assets deteriorated by $8.4 billion in fiscal 2010, pushing its deficit in that category of financial reporting up to a negative $37.9 billion, according to a new report from state auditor general William Holland.

CHICAGO - The Illinois Finance Authority board Tuesday signed off on Advocate Health Care Network's sale of up to $533 million of new-money and refunding bonds, and the newly merged Central DuPage Health-Delnor Health System's $190 million direct-purchase issue.

Former Chicago corporation counsel Mara Georges has followed her boss, former Mayor Richard Daley, to the law firm of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP as a partner.

Construction of a western bypass expressway around O'Hare International Airport would create at least 78,000 jobs and strengthen the regional economy, but financing the $3 billion project likely would have to come from tolls, according to an advisory council report announced by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn last week.

Moody's Investors Service changed its outlook on Decatur Memorial Hospital's A2 rating to negative from stable due to a downturn in its operating performance. The action applies to nearly $40 million of debt.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel last week announced a series of work rule changes, beginning the process that could lead to 625 layoffs to help erase red ink in the current city budget.

CHICAGO - The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago will debut expanded pension disclosure and hold its first retail-order period this week when it sells of $400 million of general obligation bonds to finance projects in its $2.6 billion capital program.

CHICAGO - The Lombard, Ill., Public Facilities Corp. drew $1.5 million from reserves to complete July 1 debt service payments on a portion of its $187 million of bonds issued to help finance a hotel and conference center that is struggling to remain solvent.

CHICAGO - The new administration in Cook County, Ill., has picked its first bond team, relying almost exclusively on locally based and minority-owned firms.