Wisconsin

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Manitowoc two notches to A1 from Aa2 and assigned a negative outlook due to its structural budget imbalance.

Wisconsin’s not-for-profit hospitals last year generated $28 billion in economic activity and provided $1.4 billion in community benefits, according to new studies.

Legislation advancing in the Wisconsin Legislature would authorize the creation of a Milwaukee County comptroller, an independent elected post charged with managing the county’s debt, audits and other fiscal issues.

The Wisconsin Democratic Party announced last week that the recall effort against Republican Gov. Scott Walker will launch on Nov. 15.

Wisconsin could finance much of an estimated $26.2 billion price tag for rebuilding and modernizing its currently free Interstate highway system by implementing tolls, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute

Moody's Investor Service has revised its outlook to positive from stable on Aspirus Wausau Hospital's A2 rating in recognition of strong operating profitability for a third consecutive year.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to positive from stable on the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics’ A1 rating due to its improved fiscal performance.

CHICAGO - Wisconsin will enter the market as soon as Monday with roughly $250 million of general obligation refunding bonds for both traditional economic savings and to restructure debt coming due in November for budgetary relief.

CHICAGO - A federal appellate panel in Chicago last week delivered a mixed opinion in a dispute over whether a Wisconsin tribe is on the hook for repayment of $47 million of debt, upholding the district court's voiding of the bond indenture while overturning its refusal to consider other documents in an argument over the tribe's sovereign immunity.

Wisconsin-based law firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP plans to renew its commitment to public finance with the hiring of 25-year industry veteran Charles D. Katz.

The Green Bay Packers have broken ground on the $130 million, privately financed renovation the team announced late last month for the publicly owned Lambeau Field.

CHICAGO - One day after being accused of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for its role in advising five Wisconsin school districts on a risky investment scheme, Stifel Financial Corp. said it has finalized an agreement to purchase $162.5 million of school district-supported notes from Depfa Bank Plc.

CHICAGO - Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and a former senior executive fraudulently misled five Wisconsin school districts by steering them into unsuitably risky and complex investment products to fund their non-pension retirement obligations, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged in a complaint filed Wednesday.

Wisconsin last week put $233 million back into its patient compensation fund, returning a controversial transfer that helped balance previous state budgets.

CHICAGO - Lawyers for five Wisconsin school districts trying to recoup their ill-fated $200 million investment in collateralized debt obligations to fund their non-pension retiree health liabilities are engaged in formal mediation talks with the financial firms they blame for their losses.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court last week overturned an appeals court ruling and upheld the tax-exempt status of an outpatient facility operated by nonprofit Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare.

CHICAGO - With a selection process underway to update its underwriting pools, Wisconsin on Wednesday will take bids on $338 million of bonds in its first general obligation sale following the adoption of a $66 billion budget that moves the state closer to structural balance.

CHICAGO - Wisconsin will take bids on $338 million of new-money general obligation bonds on July 20, fresh from capturing its lowest rate in recent memory on an $800 million note sale that was held last week.

Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. is moving into the health care and senior-living financing sectors with the new hire of a public finance banking veteran.

Milwaukee-based Quarles & Brady LLP has hired veteran bond attorney Scott Bremer as a partner in its Chicago office to help the firm as it seeks to expand its public finance practice to cover the state of Illinois and local government issuers here.