Midwest

Standard & Poor’s said Thursday that its junk ratings on Wayne County, Mich. will remain unchanged for now despite the declaration of a financial emergency.

The Chicago Board of Education authorized $1.16 billion of borrowing to pay for ongoing capital projects, to cancel swaps, and refund debt for budget relief.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared Wayne County, home of Detroit, to be in a financial emergency, just one day after a state review team made the recommendation.

The Illinois Senate president called on Gov. Bruce Rauner to offer a new, balanced budget for fiscal 2016, warning that, without action, the state’s battered credit faces a further hit.

The Detroit suburb of Allen Park is considering tendering $31 million of troubled bonds that have led to general fund deficits, a state takeover and federal securities fraud charges.

Illinois debt manager Jessica Akey is leaving state government to join Standard & Poor’s, multiple public finance sources said.

Burleigh County, N.D., is gearing up for the issuance of $90 million of sales-tax backed bonds to finance a new jail.

A federal appellate panel tossed five of 18 corruption-related counts that landed former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a 14-year sentence in 2011.

The Detroit City Council Tuesday voted to raise water and sewer rates, reversing an earlier vote that city and state officials had warned could bring additional state oversight down on the city.

Even as it stepped closer to a Michigan state takeover, Wayne County's county's chief executive said the struggling government would not travel down the same path as its largest city, Detroit.