Illinois

As Chicago transit agencies and Illinois lawmakers near a deadline to fix a transit budget shortfall of about $770 million, some are calling for a services tax.

New York Power Authority CFO Adam Barsky and Battery Park City Authority CFO Pamela Frederick join The Bond Buyer's Lynne Funk to unpack the far-reaching consequences of eliminating, reducing, or limiting the federal tax exemption for municipal bonds.

An Illinois park district became the only local general obligation credit to default in 2024, according to Municipal Market Analytics.

The Illinois Finance Authority will go to market with $850 million of revenue and refunding bonds for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency next week.

The Chicago Public Schools ended the week no closer than it started to answering the question of how or if a scheduled pension payment will be made.

Moody's Ratings revised the outlook to negative from stable but affirmed the A1 rating on the CTA's senior lien sales tax bonds.

Michael Melzer joined Nixon Peabody's Chicago office as a partner, bringing wide-ranging experience in public finance.

Illinois will sell $725 million of junior sales tax revenue bonds in a competitive deal pricing Tuesday. The Build Illinois bonds will fund capital projects.

Chicago's City Council on Wednesday approved the sale of $830 million of general obligation bonds that Mayor Brandon Johnson says will fund infrastructure improvements.

Illinois' Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for fiscal year 2023 recently passed the 600-day mark and is threatening to break California's lateness record.

Washington's threats to state and local government funding took center stage when Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker delivered his seventh budget.

In a first for the Midwest, a southern Illinois city plans to redevelop a mall using proceeds from sales tax and revenue bonds.

Former Women in Public Finance President, Illinois Finance Authority general counsel and Katten Muchin Rosenman partner Elizabeth Weber "was a class act all the way."

Charter schools drove the worst January ever for impairments since Municipal Market Analytics began tracking default trends, the firm said in a Feb. 5 report.

As Chicago Public Schools tries to get its fiscal house in order, it faces management turmoil, risks to federal funding and threatened immigration raids.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency downgraded Chicago's general obligation bonds to A-minus from A, citing high fixed costs and one-time fixes. The outlook is negative.

Chicago's Regional Transportation Authority released a plan calling for $1.5 billion in operating funding from state and local sources and more RTA control.

The Fed may make more cuts and there's a floor forming under the Treasury market, per panelists at the Executives' Club of Chicago's Annual Economic Outlook.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Chicago's general obligation debt to BBB from BBB-plus, saying the 2025 budget fails to address a structural imbalance.

Tom Greene is retiring after 10 years at Wintrust Wealth Management. He left retirement to work for Wintrust; he also spent 40 years at William Blair and Co.