Midwest

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board has approved refunding up to $1 billion of debt in a deal led by Goldman Sachs and Jefferies & Co. and assigned Morgan Stanley the lead spot on a future new-money deal that may tap the TIFIA program.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's historic decision Friday to take over the city of Detroit bodes well for the credit and for other local distressed governments, muni experts said, even as Snyder warned that all creditors might take have to take a loss.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Friday announced that the long-suffering city of Detroit was in a state of financial emergency, paving the way for a full state takeover within two weeks.

Minnesota's economic forecast brightened Thursday with new revenue projections adding $295 million to its surplus this year and chopping $463 million off the $1.1 billion deficit in its next budget.

Long-time Chicago public finance veteran Tariq Malhance is stepping down as Cook County's CFO, and the current deputy CFO, Ivan Samstein, is expected to take over the top finance spot.

A bipartisan group of Illinois lawmakers put their support Wednesday behind a new pension reform package that cuts benefits, raises employee contributions, and reduces the state's burden for funding future teachers' pensions.

The Chicago Transit Authority has tapped its CFO Karen Walker to lead the agency's public-private partnership efforts and has hired Ronald DeNard from the private sector to fill the CFO spot.

South Dakota comes to market Thursday with $171 million of refunding tobacco bonds to finance education across the state amid ongoing uncertainty in the high-yield sector.

Standard & Poor's dropped its rating Tuesday on Vadnais Heights to D on $25 million of lease-backed revenue debt issued in 2010 to finance a sports complex that it cut financial support to last year.

The University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority hits the market Wednesday with a $263 million sale that will nearly double its modest debt levels to help finance a five-year $670 million capital program that includes a new off-campus facility.