Midwest

Chicago heads back into the market Wednesday to convert $112 million of floating-rate sales tax-backed bonds to a fixed rate, further chipping away at bank credit risks that posed a $2.2 billion liquidity risk.

With Illinois' credit rating hanging in the balance, the state's spring legislative session ended in gridlock with passage of a $36 billion budget labeled by Gov. Bruce Rauner as "phony."

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Kendall County Forest Preserve District in Illinois by one level to A2 and warned of further action by assigning a negative outlook as the district’s balance sheet struggles.

Six Missouri lawmakers have filed a complaint aimed at preventing Gov. Jay Nixon from tapping revenues that go to repay debt on the St. Louis Rams’ stadium for a new professional football stadium without legislative or voter support.

St. Louis voters will decide in an August ballot measure whether the city should issue $180 million of debt to fund infrastructure improvements.

After meeting with legislative leaders Friday, Illinois’ rookie GOP governor voiced optimism that an impasse over the fiscal 2016 budget will be bridged, though no deal was expected before Sunday’s scheduled adjournment.

Australian fund manager IFM Investors has paid $5.72 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road for 66 years, marking the largest privatization for an existing U.S. asset and the first time major US pension funds have invested in American infrastructure.

Chicago took a beating but got its deal done as it offered its first general obligation bonds in more than a year Wednesday, with its fall to a junk-bond rating fresh on investors’ minds.

Five years ago Michigan’s retirement systems attached their guarantee to a troubled bond deal, and being forced to cover payments, lawmakers will bail out the pension funds with general fund money.

Suzanne Shank, president and CEO of Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. LLC, has been named to a national panel dedicated to boosting private investment in infrastructure.