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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After falling to just $26.6 million in December, state officials lowered the program's reserves effective March 1 to boost capacity.
April 4 -
Phoenix asked a state court to prohibit residential housing on the site of the Tempe Entertainment District due to its proximity to Sky Harbor International Airport.
April 3 -
Tioga Independent School District, located north of Dallas, has a state-appointed monitor to develop and implement "a corrective action plan."
March 30 -
The measure, which passed with slim vote margins in the Republican-controlled legislature, could drive banks out of the state's market, according to the governor.
March 29 -
The bill creates an ESG Oversight Committee to compile a list of financial services providers determined to be "discriminating" against the fossil fuel, firearm, or ammunition industries.
March 28 -
The House and Senate differ in their approaches to lowering property taxes by billions of dollars as the state anticipates a record budget surplus.
March 27 -
The state House Appropriations Committee dropped $3.86 billion from a supplemental spending bill, but its chair said the money is "still in play."
March 24 -
Big national banks would be banned from state and local government contracts in Oklahoma if their policies "discriminate" against the firearm industry.
March 23 -
A plan to build a light rail system in the Texas capital city has come under financial and political pressure.
March 22 -
Among the record number of bills filed in the biennial session are bills aiming to restrict or expand municipal bond issuance.
March 20 -
The school district's AA-plus rating is supported by strong reserves and Houston's economic strength, S&P Global Ratings analysts said.
March 17 -
The Texas Education Agency, which initially sought the takeover in 2019, will appoint managers to run the state's largest public school system.
March 16 -
OTA has come under increased scrutiny as it embarks on a $5 billion, bond-financed project that has been challenged in court.
March 16 -
The Uinta Basin railway is asking the DOT to authorize up to $2 billion of PABs for the project, which would move oil to market from northeast Utah.
March 13 -
A $3.52 billion Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corp. deal includes a make-whole redemption over three years to call bonds if the state appropriates funds to pay them off.
March 10 -
Opponents warned the measures could roll back 10 years of state efforts to improve funding for the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
March 9 -
Revenue bonds sold in 2018 for the project would be paid over seven years at lower rates under the Chapter 11 exit plan for the Bridgemoor at Plano debt.
March 7 -
The much-delayed $3.5 billion deal has an optional limited make-whole redemption if state lawmakers appropriate funds to defray costs for natural gas customers.
March 6 -
The measure prohibits government contracts with companies deemed to be "boycotting" the fossil fuel, firearm, timber, mining, and agriculture industries.
March 3 -
The rating agency said it could upgrade the state's ratings over a two-year period if recent healthy fund balances are maintained.
February 28
