Karen is a senior reporter covering the Southwest. She has covered the municipal bond market for more than 30 years at The Bond Buyer and Reuters. Prior to that she wrote about futures and options markets for magazines and was an award-winning reporter for a suburban Chicago newspaper chain.
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The Intermountain Power Agency has warned that the measure, which is aimed at preserving the state's largest coal-fired power plant, poses risks to its bond-financed transition to cleaner fuels.
March 21 -
Funding for a $2.55 billion expansion and renovation of George Bush Intercontinental Airport's Terminal B had been held up for months by the city's former and current controller.
March 21 -
The deal announced by Mayor John Whitmire last week would end an eight-year-long impasse with the firefighters union and require $650 million of judgment bonds.
March 20 -
Intermountain Power Agency contends the bill passed by lawmakers, awaiting action by the governor, poses a risk to bonds it sold to finance a transition to cleaner fuels.
March 20 -
Laws banning banks from underwriting municipal bond deals because of their fossil fuel or firearm policies dramatically boosted underwriting spreads, a business group's study said.
March 19 -
The $650 million settlement will fund back pay for firefighters, who will also get future wage hikes.
March 15 -
Under a settlement agreement, the Texas Education Agency assigned two conservators to oversee IDEA Public Schools, which was the target of a probe into alleged financial and operational improprieties.
March 14 -
The state's transportation department plans to sell $200 million of highway fund revenue bonds this summer for its Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program.
March 13 -
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her public-private sector plan to build a strategic water supply will remain a top priority after a bill for financing failed to advance in the legislature.
March 12 -
The Houston City Council was unable to vote on initial financing for a $2.55 billion terminal renovation project at George Bush Intercontinental Airport without certification by the city controller.
March 7 -
The Chapter 11 case for Harvest Gold Silica follows two other bankruptcy filings over the last year by entities that sold bonds through the Arizona Industrial Development Authority.
March 7 -
The rating agency cited the university's structural budget imbalance and management turnover among factors that drove the outlook revision to negative from stable.
March 5 -
State lawmakers last week passed bills including stadium financing to boost efforts to lure professional baseball and hockey teams to Salt Lake City.
March 5 -
Escalating costs led University of Utah Health to seek a doubling of its bonding authority from the state legislature for a medical campus project.
February 29 -
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond released opinions that disallowed the holding of multiple government roles by Turnpike Authority Executive Director Tim Gatz and upheld the constitutionality of a 2023 law that altered the turnpike's governance structure.
February 29 -
The elimination of the 4.5% tax will cost the state about $400 million annually.
February 27 -
Texas bond volume climbed 22.5% to lead the nation in a year when issuance in the eight-state Southwest region increased by only 0.6%.
February 20 -
Austin Transit Partnership, which was created by the city and its mass transit agency to develop and finance Project Connect, approved an initial bond sale of up to $150 million.
February 16 -
The upcoming fiscal 2025 budget will take "some first steps" to address a structural gap of about $158 million, Melissa Dubowski said.
February 14 -
The state faces slower job growth after gains in the previous three years outpaced the nation, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve's Texas economic outlook.
February 13
