Midwest

Cook County won AAA rating from S&P on its sales-tax backed bond deal, a new pledge that allows the county to distance itself from the woes of Illinois and its own general obligation rating.

Chicago heads into next year's budget season with $369 million of red ink to erase, a figure down by half from what Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his finance team faced as they crafted their inaugural budget last year.

Incumbent Gov. Scott Walker and Republican groups spent $58.7 million on the historic recall election in June while his Democratic challenger Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Democratic groups spent $22 million.

The Milwaukee County Board has approved an increase in the $3 passenger facility charge at Mitchell International Airport to $4.50.

The Michigan-appointed emergency manager of Highland Park Schools has converted the troubled suburban Detroit district into a charter-operated one, and hired a private firm to run the schools starting in the fall.

An Ann Arbor-based company announced last week it will help develop zoning for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's plan to shrink the city's urban footprint to reflect its diminished population.

Moody's Investors Service last week affirmed its A1 rating on the Indianapolis Museum of Art and revised the outlook to negative from stable, saying the facility faces several challenges.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded its underlying rating on Illinois' Douglas and Champaign Counties Community Unit School District 301 two notches to Baa1 and assigned a negative outlook. The action affects $5.4 million of debt.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare's rating one level to BBB-plus and warned of impending further negative action by placing it on rating watch negative, due to the Illinois hospital's financial performance.

Illinois Gov. Quinn on Monday called a special legislative session for mid-August, pressing lawmakers to act on elusive pension reforms needed to help stave off further credit deterioration and spare schools, healthcare, and public safety spending from further cuts.