Cooperatives and other community-owned businesses in Illinois will get a boost of investment thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA) at Western Illinois University. 

The newly-created Illinois Competitiveness Council is charged with reviewing the state's regulations and ensuring they are up to date, easy to understand and not unnecessarily burdensome for potential business owners.

A plan to borrow more than $10 million to fund various alley and street resurfacing and facility improvement projects has been approved by the Oak Park Village Board. According to village officials, the $10,005,000 bond sale was to issue tax-exempt bonds

The ratings are more solid than the city's general obligation credit and recent O'Hare deals have seen minimal penalties in line with those typically imposed on any Illinois-based paper. The deal, however, faces general market headwinds that make a prediction on pricing or penalties difficult.

Formerly St. Charles Hospital, the historic Art Deco building is being converted to modern senior housing as part of a $24 million redevelopment. The balance of the project's development cost was covered by a combination of federal historic tax credits, low-income housing tax credits and private financing.

The state plans to place the debt with four banks on Nov. 7 in a deal that will alleviate the need for costly letters of credit and further ensure that the termination of interest rate swap agreements related to the debt will not be triggered.

With Illinois' political and fiscal problems showing no sign of abating, investors on Thursday demanded fat yields for the low-rated state's $1.3 billion of general obligation refunding bonds.

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