Richard Ciccarone News
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In a city notorious for corrupt politicians, the constituents of Chicago’s South Side and southern suburbs have endured more than their share. The latest evidence comes tomorrow when they head to the polls to pick party nominees in a special election for the seat of disgraced former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.
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No one interrupted Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s budget presentation with applause yesterday. There’s nothing to cheer about in the financial condition of the fifth- largest U.S. state.
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Illinois has set aside only 45 percent of what it needs to meet public-worker pension obligations, the worst of any U.S. state. Standard & Poor’s may cut its bond rating if lawmakers don’t come up with a fix tomorrow. Investors are unfazed.
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Municipal-bond insurance, which once covered half of the $400 billion of debt sold by U.S. state and local governments annually, “won’t be making a comeback,” said Howard Cure , director of municipal research at Evercore Wealth Management.
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Republicans are poised to win the most governorships since 1994 as candidates including Pennsylvania’s Tom Corbett , Michigan’s Rick Snyder and Ohio’s John Kasich seize on the faltering economy and persistent unemployment in bids to take over Democrat-led states.
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Illinois, the second-lowest-rated state after California, today is selling $700 million in the largest Build America Bond offering in a month, a day after its standing was recalibrated higher by Moody’s Investors Service.
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Debt sold by Illinois issuers is rallying the most in 20 months in the face of a warning that the state’s pensions may run out of money and drain funding from education, infrastructure and local aid.
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Mammoth Lakes, California, voted to file for bankruptcy to protect itself from a $43 million court judgment, the resort town said.
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Congress’s deficit-cutting supercommittee may cap or end a tax exemption that helps set state and local debt prices, raising borrowing costs and disrupting the $2.9 trillion municipal-bond market.
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Pension bonds are joining the biggest rally in U.S. taxable municipal debt since 2008 as states from Kansas to South Carolina move to curb retirement obligations after four straight years of falling funding ratios.
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