Midwest

More than 80% of Michigan's larger cities said they are using ARPA funds for capital improvements like buildings and parks.

The upgrade "is driven by sustained improvements in the city's income tax collections and the city's superior gap-closing capacity," Fitch said.

Chasse Rehwinkel most recently has held the position of director of banking for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. 

While all four of Chicago's weakly funded pension funds hit a milestone by posting modest increases in their funded ratios in 2021, they lost ground in 2022 due to investment losses driving up the city's pension burden to $35.4 billion

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza will highlight the state's progress on key fiscal metrics during upcoming meetings with the rating agencies and has updated the fiscal 2023 interim audit as the full audited results have not yet been published.

The Board of Education approved a fiscal 2024 budget amid warnings about the need for more state help to manage a gap of up to $700 million in fiscal 2026.

David Fields, Rob Whitlock and Naomi O'Dell have been hired from RBC Capital Markets and will work out of the firm's Philadelphia and Chicago offices.

"We believe pensions have an elevated probability of stressing the state and local governments' budgets even as Illinois has made supplemental contributions above the statutorily required amounts," S&P Global Ratings analyst Joseph Vodziak said.

A $100 million offering of voter-authorized general obligation bonds will speed up blight removal and fund parks and transportation projects.

The Police and Fire Retirement System lacks authority to shift to a 20-year amortization of unfunded legacy liabilities from the 30-year term laid out in the city's bankruptcy exit plan, according to a judge's ruling that eases one fiscal pressure point for the city.