Midwest

Chicago plans to begin scaling back on retiree healthcare premium subsidies in its 2014 budget even though a legal challenge to its plan to phase out the subsidies for most retirees faces a legal challenge.

In a first of its kind deal, Detroit has secured debtor-in-possession financing, a $350 million loan from Barclays that is backed by a pledge of income tax and casino revenues.

Michigan treasurer Andy Dillon is stepping down after months of negative headlines over a messy divorce and other issues that he said were becoming a distraction to the state.

Chapter 9 is supposed to make it easier for a struggling municipality to borrow, but the decisions made so far by Detroit’s leaders may have the opposite effect, bankruptcy expert James Spiotto said Friday at the Bond Dealers of America conference here.

Detroit's historic bankruptcy filing may lead to precedent-setting decisions on the treatment of general obligation bonds and other debt, though it has not meant big changes in daily investment strategy so far, according to a pair of market participants at the Bond Dealers of America conference.

Syncora Guarantee, Inc., the bond insurer that wraps some of Detroit's pension certificates, Thursday filed an appeal to Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes' ruling that blocks the insurer's ability to freeze the city's casino revenue.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in federal prison for running a criminal enterprise to enrich himself and his friends during the six years he was mayor of the struggling city.

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle proposed a $3.5 billion 2014 budget, saying the new federal health care law will allow her offset a $150 million deficit with no new taxes or fees.

The Illinois Finance Authority is readying an up to $175 million issue that will mark the first borrowing under an expanded $1 billion state revolving fund loan program.

A Detroit charter school defaulted on its Oct. 1 debt payment despite carrying a pledge of state aid, an intercept feature, and other protections designed to enhance bondholder security.