News and Information from Bond Buyer

NEBRASKA

The University of Chicago was among six institutions to which the not-for-profit Ludwig Cancer Research organization awarded $540 million grants to fund cancer research.

The cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools announced plans to relocate its administrative headquarters later this year in a move estimated to save $60 million over the next 15 years.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority intends to sell $850 million of bonds on Jan. 16, with a two-day retail period in store for most of the amount.

After previous years of slumping revenue, Kansas lawmakers will see a slight increase in this year's session.

Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr reversed a decision to close the bankrupt city's pension system for non-public safety employees and shifted it into a 401(k)-style defined contribution retirement plan.

The municipal market eased out of the garage and into first gear Monday, with a mix of stable and improving yields on modest activity in the secondary.

Government

Moody's Investors Service revised the outlook on Illinois-based Memorial Health System's A1 rating to negative from stable ahead of its sale of $60 million of revenue bonds.

The office of New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a news release hailing his and his staff's accomplishments in 2013.

An oil field boom has caused enrollment to soar in Billings, Mont. Schools, which are selling bonds to pay for new schools and additions.

In his second-term inauguration Jan. 6, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said voters in 2015 will be asked to approve up to $250 million in bonds for infrastructure.

The Missouri Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision dismissing the city of Moberly and its industrial development authority as defendants in a bondholder lawsuit targeting the underwriter of $39 million of city bonds issued for a failed artificial sweetener plant.

Ohio is coming to market Wednesday with $150 million of general obligation bonds as state lawmakers gear up to consider a pair of measures that could mean a flood of new-money borrowing over the next several years.

President Obama's top economic advisor urges Congress to enter into a "grand bargain on jobs" in exchange for national infrastructure bank.

Moody's Investors Service said it has downgraded to Baa3 from Baa2 the city of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.'s $49.6 million in outstanding rated debt.

Bondholders who took ownership of the St. Louis convention center hotel complex four years ago hope to close next month on the sale of the complex's two hotels in separate transactions totaling about $29 million.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts announced Susan Dushock as its new chairman and other new board of governors officers for 2014 on Monday.

Money owed to New York City related to defaulted Yankee Stadium garage bonds would remain unpaid until 2056, under terms of a pending deal to build a soccer stadium at one of the garage sites.

Bids and trades appear light early Monday afternoon, but they're enough to project strength in the market.