Wisconsin

CHICAGO — Milwaukee will competitively sell up to $50 million of general obligation corporate-purpose qualified school construction bonds on behalf of the Milwaukee Public Schools today in a deal that will help the struggling district pay for capital projects and maintenance.

Standard & Poor’s this week announced it had raised the ratings on 11 school districts in Missouri and Wisconsin following a review based on revised credit criteria for smaller districts.

In spite of a recent warning by Ambac Financial Group Inc. that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection as early as the first quarter of 2011, the Wisconsin commissioner of insurance, the company’s regulator, said it has sufficient expertise to handle any eventuality and has also rejected the notion that the company should be allowed to split its books.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Madison’s water revenue bonds one notch to Aa2 due to challenges facing the system that have hurt its liquidity levels.

CHICAGO — Menasha, Wis., will call $6.9 million of general obligation notes issued for its now-shuttered steam utility plant next month as officials weigh an offer from WPPI Energy to purchase the utility’s distribution assets in a deal that would help the city repay $23 million of defaulted bond anticipation notes.

Midwestern voters head to the polls tomorrow to cast decisions on elected offices, new casinos, and more than 125 ballot questions that would authorize more than $3.3 billion worth of borrowing, led by Detroit Public Schools' $500 million request and $750 million for a new public hospital in Indiana.

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle yesterday announced a package of education-related reform legislation that would hand the control of the struggling Milwaukee Public Schools system over to the city’s mayor.

Fitch Ratings downgraded the Monroe Clinic Inc.’s rating one notch to A-minus due to its plans to added debt load that will come early month with the issuance of $65 million of fixed-rate bonds.

CHICAGO — As school districts’ issuance of qualified school construction bonds picks up, the market is seeing its first competitively sold transactions of the tax-credit bonds, with several Midwestern district issues done and several more — including one from Milwaukee Public Schools — on the horizon.

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Manitowoc County’s credit one notch to A1 ahead of its sale of $5 million of note anticipation notes this week due to its pressured financial position. The action affects $21 million of debt.

CHICAGO — Froedtert & Community Health Inc. enters the market today to issue $187 million of revenue bonds to restructure some remaining insured auction-rate securities and variable-rate demand bonds and raise new money for various projects.