Kyle Glazier

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Monday announced the first of a series of fiscal reforms designed to head off a financial nightmare that a recent projection suggested could be heading the city's way.

A refunding surge triggered by low interest rates and soaring airport issuance contributed to the surge in transportation bond volume in 2012, experts said.

Former investment banker and New York City official Mark Kim is the new chief financial officer at the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, DC Water announced at its board meeting Feb. 7.

Sales of merchant wholesalers rose remained virtually unchanged at $418.9 billion in December, as inventories dipped 0.1%, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The U.S. international trade deficit was $38.5 billion in December, a 20.7% decrease from the revised $48.6 billion deficit in November, originally reported as $48.7 billion, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Baltimore is setting a precedent by being the first large city to use long-term forecasting to avoid becoming the next bankruptcy story, city officials and their advisors said Thursday.

Consumer credit climbed $14.6 billion, or 6.3%, in December to $2.778.2 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

A ten-year forecast commissioned by the mayor and released Wednesday reveals that Baltimore could be on a path to bankruptcy without "serious fiscal reforms."

The outlook for U.S. toll roads is negative for the fifth consecutive year, according to a Moody's Investors Service analysis of expectations for the sector over the next 12-18 months.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's controversial transportation plan passed the House of Delegates Tuesday, but failed to get out of the Senate despite both chambers agreeing to ban tolling on Interstate 95 in the southern part of the state.

Moody's Investors Service has put 11 triple-A rated municipal credits, including one state, one major city and two state housing authority programs, on negative watch following a new analysis of issuers with indirect links to the federal government.

Several individuals have emerged as candidates to replace Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood when he steps down, but that person will need to be very proactive to affect meaningful policy, lobbyists say.

New orders for manufactured goods rose 1.8% in December, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

Prince George's County, Md. will sell more than $300 million of highly-rated tax-exempt debt Tuesday, as the county seeks to benefit from low interest rates with both new money and refunding bonds.

District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi will retire on June 1, he announced Friday.

Construction spending rose 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted estimated annual rate of $884.9 billion in December, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Personal income rose $352.4 billion or 2.6% in December following a revised 1% increase in November, while personal spending climbed $22.6 billion or 0.2%, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The Fed will continue open-ended programs to purchase longer-term treasuries at a rate of $45 billion per month and mortgage-backed securities at a $40 billion per month clip, the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement released Wednesday following the FOMC's two-day meeting.

District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi and Mayor Vincent Gray announced a $417 million 2012 surplus this week, bringing the city's fund balance to its highest in five years.

Real gross domestic product decreased at an annual rate of 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the advance estimate released by the Commerce Department Wednesday.