Wisconsin

CHICAGO - A few years after picking up and moving from Chicago, where he worked for a major accounting firm, to settle in a small Colorado town, W. Martin "Wally" Morics was itching for more of a challenge.

Gov. Scott Walker signed Wisconsin's new, two-year $66 billion budget into law on Sunday after using his veto pen on 50 items. He mostly left intact the budget passed earlier this month, which closely resembled his original plan that dealt with a $3 billion deficit primarily with cuts.

CHICAGO - Wisconsin plans to take competitive bids July 6 on $800 million of operating notes that will help the state smooth out its cash-flow needs.

CHICAGO - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will spend the next week or so reviewing the $66 billion, two-year budget approved by lawmakers before signing the spending plan, which closely resembles his original proposal by dealing with a $3 billion deficit primarily with cuts.

CHICAGO - Debate was expected to began Wednesday in the Wisconsin Assembly on a new budget, one day after the state's high court reinstated Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill that raised employee pension payments and health care premiums and curbed most public unions' collective bargaining rights.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Lake Geneva’s rating a notch to Aa2, citing its solid financial position.

Regulators denied Ambac Assurance Corp.’s requests that it be allowed to pay interest on all its outstanding surplus notes due June 7.

CHICAGO — A Wisconsin judge on Thursday struck down the state’s controversial law that curtailed the collective bargaining powers of most public unions and raised pension contributions and health care premiums, concluding that lawmakers violated state open-meetings rules in their haste to pass the legislation.

Lawyers for Ambac Financial Group said the bankruptcy plan submitted by the Wisconsin insurance regulator was unacceptable, and the company intends to issue its own plan in June.

CHICAGO — Milwaukee will competitively sell about $250 million of general obligation debt Wednesday as it grapples with the impact of looming state revenue cuts proposed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin now expects to collect at least $600 million more in tax revenues over the next three years than previously projected, but Gov. Scott Walker said most of the increase would go to pay off existing obligations, not to ease deep education and local government spending cuts proposed in his next budget.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin will enter the market as soon as Wednesday with up to $276 million of general obligation refunding bonds to complete a debt restructuring originally held up by the controversy earlier this year over Gov. Scott Walker’s move to curtail the collective bargaining rights of most public unions.

CHICAGO — Since its creation by the Wisconsin Legislature last year, the Public Finance Authority is spreading the message that while it may have a northern address, its boundaries as a conduit issuer extend across the country.

CHICAGO — The efforts of five Wisconsin school districts to recoup their ill-fated $200 million investment in collateralized debt obligations have received reinforcement in the form of possible Securities and Exchange Commission action against an investment bank for its role in the transaction.

CHICAGO — Menasha, Wis., expects to close Wednesday on the sale of its electric utility assets to WPPI Energy in an $18 million sale-leaseback transaction to provide the bulk of funds needed to cover the city’s proposed settlement with holders of $23 million of defaulted steam plant notes.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s long-stalled plan to restructure $165 million of debt to eliminate a shortfall in the current budget won legislative approval Tuesday and will go before the State Building Commission Wednesday as officials work to complete the deal before an April 14 deadline.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin lawmakers could vote as soon as Tuesday on the remaining pieces of legislation designed to eliminate a shortfall in the current state budget primarily by restructuring outstanding general obligation debt.

CHICAGO — An appeal challenging Wisconsin’s controversial legislation that strips most public unions of much of their collective bargaining powers and raises employee pension contributions and health care premiums should go directly to the state Supreme Court, an appellate panel said Thursday.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has proposed a $1.12 billion capital budget for the next two-year budget cycle, down sharply from the $1.6 billion plan adopted two years ago.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Las Vegas Monorail Co. bondholder Eaton Vance has broken with other large holders of the bankrupt project’s debt to challenge the settlement that trustee Wells Fargo Bank NA negotiated with Wisconsin state regulators to commute the monorail’s bond insurance policy.