Midwest

Regulators denied Ambac Assurance Corp.’s requests that it be allowed to pay interest on all its outstanding surplus notes due June 7.

CHICAGO — The St. Paul Port Authority and lawyers for a group of investors who hold a portion of its 876 Fund economic development revenue bonds will return to court later this month as litigation proceeds over the fate of $51 million of defaulted debt.

CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools will scale back its planned borrowing in fiscal 2012 and trim administrative costs to shave $75 million off an estimated $720 million gap in its next budget, new schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard and Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday.

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has joined Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP — the top-ranked legal firm for city bond deals ­­— in an of counsel role in which the firm intends to draw on his experience and relationships to bolster its continued growth, officials announced Wednesday.

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday called a massive expansion of gambling approved by lawmakers this week “excessive” and the fiscal 2012 budget “unfinished” because it leaves billions of dollars in bills unpaid and cuts education funding.

CHICAGO — The Omaha Public Power District, the fourth highest-rated utility in the U.S., on Thursday will price up to $150 million of electric system revenue bonds.

CHICAGO — Ohio will enter the market four times over the next week with a spate of deals to finance economic development and job-creation projects.

CHICAGO — The financial toll of the tornado that ripped through Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, killing more than 100 and destroying a local hospital, remains unknown, but Moody’s Investors Service expects the health care system’s rating will weather the impact and Missouri said it stands ready with aid.

CHICAGO — A Wisconsin judge on Thursday struck down the state’s controversial law that curtailed the collective bargaining powers of most public unions and raised pension contributions and health care premiums, concluding that lawmakers violated state open-meetings rules in their haste to pass the legislation.

CHICAGO — The Michigan Legislature late Thursday was poised to approve a final $46.5 billion 2012 spending plan, marking the earliest finish to the state’s fiscal budget process in three decades.