Illinois city will bond to support casino development

Municipal bonds are part of an Illinois city's plan to help the local casino build a bigger venue at a new location. In its current form, Aurora's Hollywood Casino occupies a barge tethered near downtown on the Fox River. The city and the casino owner want to build a brand new resort about five miles away, near an outlet mall and an exit to Interstate 88, about 35 miles from Chicago. The city's $50 million will come from a taxable bond issue, with the bonds paid back using revenues from one of Aurora's tax increment financing districts.

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An active primary was the municipal bond market focus Wednesday with the New York City TFA pricing for institutions with small changes to yields from its Tuesday retail offering, Massachusetts upsizing its GO refunding deal and Wisconsin selling green bonds in the competitive market. Triple-A muni yield curves were mostly little changed to a basis point of stronger in some spots.

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Gilt-edged Washington Suburban Sanitary District, Maryland, is offering $329 million of revenue bonds via a competitive sale Thursday that may help set the tone for triple-A yield curves that have been contending with U.S. Treasury market volatility.

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Rating agencies affirmed Denver Health and Hospital Authority bonds at BBB with stable outlooks, citing improved operating performance . The affirmations came in the wake of concerns raised last month by the public safety net health system that an influx of migrants from the southern border was contributing to escalating uncompensated care costs.

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State governments and federal lawmakers are already eyeing the possibility of reauthorizing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law . The $1.2 trillion law, formally known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, represents the crowning legislative achievement for the Biden administration. April will mark the halfway mark for the initial span of the bill. “This is not too early to begin thinking about what that next bill might look like, assessing how this bill has worked, its successes and its challenges,” Marc Williams, executive director of the Texas DOT, said at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Winter Meeting.?

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Law firm McGuireWoods has hired Jackie Wells, a former director in the enforcement department of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, for its securities enforcement and regulatory counseling practice. Wells, who joins the firm’s New York office as counsel, spent eight years at FINRA, the self-regulatory organization for member brokerage firms and exchange markets. She handled cases involving market regulation and sales practice violations, such as trade reporting, order execution, and anti-money laundering programs.?

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