Paul Burton

Rhode Island's retirement system is essentially "an implied contract" between the state and its employees, a judge said Tuesday in a ruling that favored the Ocean State's pension workers.

Moody's Investors Service late Monday downgraded the general obligation rating of Collingswood, N.J., six notches to Ba1 from A1 – called a “super downgrade” – and placed it on a watch list for a possible further downgrade. This affects $27.8 million in rated outstanding debt.

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority has scheduled for Tuesday a competitive issuance of $458 million of new-money and refunding bonds.

Some of investment banking's marquee names are competing to run Puerto Rico's main airport under a privatization plan that's part of a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program.

Rhode Island revenue collections increased 2.2% over that of the previous fiscal year, the state’s Department of Revenue said in a special report on preliminary fiscal 2011 revenues.

Fitch Ratings upgraded the underlying rating on $430 million of outstanding Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission registration fee revenue refunding bonds, Series 2005, to AA-minus from A-plus with a stable outlook.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority has issued $2.027 billion of 9/11 recovery bonds since the terrorist attacks, according to city Comptroller John Liu’s Office of Fiscal and Budget Studies.

Transportation Secretary Richard Davey warned that closing the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s budget deficit next year without fare hikes or service cuts would be “very difficult.”

Legislation enabling three Las Vegas-style casinos and one slot parlor in Massachusetts is credit negative for casinos throughout the Northeast, but particularly for those in neighboring Connecticut and Rhode Island, Moody’s Investors Service said.

The University of New England has received a $3.5 million state award from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to help open the first college of dental medicine in northern New England.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s TFIA — Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act — office is hiring a lead negotiator/financial policy advisor and a financial analyst.

Gov. Dannel Malloy released a list of $135 million in additional cuts across Connecticut government, after already having reached a $1.6 billion labor agreement that closed the state’s budget gap for fiscal 2012.

With a bond offering pending in two weeks, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and other officials are making pitches to the three major credit agencies to improve the state's bond rating.

Fitch Ratings on Thursday downgraded its rating on $14.3 billion in outstanding revenue bonds issued for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to A from A-plus, while also dropping the long-term ratings of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority general and subordinate revenue bonds.

Pennsylvania's beleaguered capital received some positive news when the Harrisburg Parking Authority agreed to help the struggling city make general obligation payments due next week with a loan package.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency is scheduled to sell $81.4 million of single-family mortgage revenue bonds on Thursday after a one-day retail period.

The New York State Thruway Authority and the State of New York Mortgage Agency are scheduled to hold bond sales on Thursday totaling $500 million, with each following a Wednesday retail order period.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The City Council's latest rejection of a state-sanctioned financial workout has left Harrisburg scrambling to meet $3.3 million in general obligation bond payments due in two weeks and two more payrolls this month.

While a state takeover of Pennsylvania’s capital city hovered after the City Council again voted against a financial recovery plan Wednesday, a more immediate crisis loomed in Harrisburg: where to get the cash to make a $3.3 million general obligation bond payment due in two weeks, and to make September payroll.

Treasurer Steven Grossman said Massachusetts' recent move to become the fourth state to have more than $1 billion in its rainy-day account sends an emphatic message.