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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A bill that advanced last week in the Texas Legislature would force a citywide vote on bonds for the Project Connect plan to build light rail.
April 25 -
The Republican-controlled legislature sent the governor a tax cut bill that included replacing the state's three-tier personal income tax structure with a flat 5.15% rate.
April 24 -
A bill to prevent developers from buying bonds issued by their metropolitan districts died, but another measure limiting interest rates in such cases was enacted.
April 24 -
The taxable bonds would finance a bottling and other facilities, which would be leased to a private business.
April 20 -
Dueling analyses out this week found the mixed-use development will either underperform or outperform in generating revenue for Tempe.
April 18 -
Participants in the Texas municipal market raised concerns over bills that would constrain debt issuance.
April 17 -
Ongoing litigation and a state investigative audit could impact bonds for a $5 billion expansion even if the debt is validated by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
April 12 -
The early termination of the agreement is the latest setback for Legacy Cares, Inc., which has defaulted on bonds sold to finance the facility.
April 11 -
The growth in March tax collections reported by the states was less robust than a year earlier.
April 10 -
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
