Kyle Glazier

State budget conditions vary widely as of late fiscal 2016, with the overall picture getting better while states with less diversified economies face significant stress, Standard & Poor's said Wednesday.

The recent decision by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System to change its investment policy and reduce expected asset return volatility, is credit positive for California and its school districts , Moody's Investors Service said.

November’s election could create momentum for federal tax reform, said panelists at The Bond Buyer’s National Municipal Bond Summit.

Legislation to put California’s teacher pension fund on a more sustainable track could prove to be bitter medicine for some school districts and the state itself because of higher contributions.

Some $227 million of U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) Water and Power Authority (WAPA) revenue bonds received downgrades from Fitch ratings Friday due to a “persistent strain” on the issuer’s liquidity.

San Francisco-based Dignity Health had its outlook revised to negative from stable by Standard & Poor's, which cited a decline in financial performance.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has announced it signed a $175 million deal to purchase islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a controversial decision that some opponents view as part of a water grab.

The Associated Press and Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers, announced Monday that it has created a new muni bond index.

Bond trustees are proving to have less power than some investors expect as debt distress has become a more persistent concern for municipal bond investors.

Alaska municipalities may bear the brunt of the state’s oil-driven budget crisis.

Berkeley Unified School District, Calif. will sell $18 million of general obligation bonds next week, buoyed by a Fitch Ratings AAA.

Washington's legislature adjourned after passing modest adjustments to the state's previous two-year budget while taking money from an account used to help fund municipal finance deals.

Some investors holding millions of dollars of bonds in default in the Florida panhandle are upset by what they see as inaction by trustee Bank of Oklahoma Financial and a fired employee with links to accused fraudster Christopher Brogdon.

Leaders of the Public Finance Authority take issue with criticisms that the Wisconsin-based national conduit issuer only exists to usurp local control from taxpayers and other bond-issuing authorities.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District’s settlement of a lawsuit over parcel tax revenues is a potential credit hit for parcel tax levying school districts in California and a boost for charter school credits, Moody’s Investors Service said.

The best execution rule, which took effect this week, may solidify a market shift concentrating retail customers in a few large firms, while others seek just to keep their institutional business running smoothly, market participants said.

The volatile stock market has hurt the asset performance of large pension plans, a signal that fiscal year 2016 returns may fall short of assumed targets for the second consecutive year, Moody's Investors Service said in a report.

Californians are gearing up for election season in what may prove to be “the year of the initiative,” with two explicitly bond-related questions already qualified for the November ballot and several more of interest to public finance likely to follow.

Washington electric utility Energy Northwest will sell nearly $500 million of refunding bonds later this month.

MarketAxess Holdings Inc., a publicly-traded company that operates an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, announced Thursday that it will expand its trading system in April to include the municipal market.