Midwest

Stifel Financial Corp. reportedly is in talks to buy Sterne Agee Group Inc., continuing an acquisition spree that's vaulted the St. Louis based brokerage and investment banking firm into the top 10 among municipal underwriters.

A week after pushing Wayne County, Mich. to junk territory, Standard & Poor's released a commentary saying it's too early to start talking about bankruptcy or a state takeover for the county, home to Detroit.

Public finance banker R. Ray Kljajic, a staple of Chicago's municipal bond community, is leaving Citi after a 25-year career there to pursue consulting and other opportunities in the infrastructure realm and in tax policy.

An agreement on staffing a new customs facility in Detroit removes the final roadblock to a $3.3 billion P3 bridge project.

Michigan is reportedly looking for ways to provide debt relief for the cash-strapped Detroit Public Schools as part of a larger turnaround plan.

Federal Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Tucker, who took over Detroit's bankruptcy this week, asked attorneys to meet with him to address any lingering issues in the historic case.

Republicans embraced Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed budget as "bold" while Democrats who control the General Assembly slammed the depth of spending cuts and labeled a reliance on savings from pension reforms as "reckless."

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner unveiled a fiscal 2016 budget that would cut spending across state government to close an estimated $6 billion gap without tax increases.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to propose deeply slash state spending to erase billions of red ink in the fiscal 2016 budget without new taxes, legislative leaders said.

Oral arguments in the case challenging Illinois' 2013 public pension overhaul will be heard March 11.