Richard Williamson

DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit lost its AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s Friday as analysts assigned DART’s upcoming $825 million bond deal a AA-plus.

DALLAS — Utah officials are facing questions about their role in a $13 million settlement with a losing bidder on the expansion of the Interstate 15 freeway in Salt Lake County, which will be funded with a record $1.25 billion bond issue next week.

DALLAS — Michael Cheroutes, a Denver attorney and expert in public finance, will guide Colorado’s search for new highway funding mechanisms as the first director of its High Performance Transportation Enterprise agency.

DALLAS — Harris County, Tex., is bringing $140 million of toll road refunding bonds to a market that appears ready to reward issuers bearing strong credit ratings.

DALLAS — Utah, one of the most fiscally fit states in the mountain West, expects to price the largest issue in its history next week — a $1.25 billion deal that will combine taxable Build America Bonds with tax-exempt debt.

DALLAS — The University of Texas System is preparing to price $631 million of taxable and tax-exempt bonds Tuesday, including $430 million for a new UT Southwestern Medical School hospital in Dallas.

DALLAS — Houston’s transportation authority, Metro, faces delays and growing costs on a $1.5 billion light-rail expansion after its purchase of 103 rail cars from a Spanish manufacturer was found to violate federal law.

DALLAS — Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday cut its rating on the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority’s junior-lien and third-lien debt to junk, dimming hopes of refinancing any of the agency’s $988 million debt.

DALLAS — Texas’ record budget shortfall is becoming a political issue as Democrats accuse Republican Comptroller Susan Combs of withholding accurate estimates ahead of the November elections.

DALLAS — Revenue from a temporary one-cent sales tax designed to balance Arizona’s budget fell 10% short of projections the first month the tax was collected, officials said.

DALLAS — Facing the risk that voters might curtail state and local debt issuance in two months, Colorado issuers are sizing up the cost of three November ballot issues and hastening bond deals before the measures have a chance to pass.

DALLAS — Less than two months after a record $1.5 billion deal, the Texas Transportation Commission is preparing another $1 billion issue of general obligation bonds.

With soaring demand for top-rated, tax-exempt munis, Harris County, Tex., expects strong results Tuesday in its pricing of $205 million of tax-backed refunding bonds, according to the county's financial services director.

The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the builder of three professional sports stadiums, could default on some of its $988 million of debt as early as March 2011, according to calculations by Moody's Investors Service.

DALLAS — After scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service over a previous issue of Build America Bonds, Austin is forgoing BABs in its sale of $145 million of general obligation debt this week.

DALLAS — The Bexar County, Tex., Hospital District plans to price $205 million of certificates of obligation Wednesday backed by the Build America Bond subsidy to expand San Antonio’s University Health System.

Amid big changes in leadership and policies, the North Texas Tollway Authority has agreed to build what could be its last major project for several years.

Downgrades outnumbered upgrades for the sixth consecutive quarter during the April to June period, according to a report released Thursday by Fitch Ratings.

With hotel taxes falling short of projections, the Dallas suburb of Irving plans to commit a diverse stream of revenues to back $200 million of bonds the city expects to issue in October for an entertainment complex.

PFM Asset Management LLC has opened a Denver office with former Davidson Fixed Income Management managing director Chris Blackwood in charge.