Richard Williamson

Already endangered by state and federal spending cuts, many rural hospitals in Texas are facing additional strain from falling oil and gas prices.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback ordered $123 million in spending cuts, transfers and other measures as state revenue estimates continued to fall in November.

The South San Antonio Independent School District failed to use proper financial controls and failed to disclose conflicts of interest in carrying out its 2010 bond program, according to an investigation by the Texas Education Agency.

Texas voters approved $8.7 billion of the $9.1 billion of bonds on local ballots, according to the latest tabulations.

A property tax cut approved by Texas voters Nov. 3 will lower school funding by about $1.2 billion over two years, but credit ratings should not be affected, Fitch Ratings says.

A healthy increase in sales and use tax revenue indicates growing consumer confidence, Arkansas officials said.

Pima County, Ariz., voters delivered a harsh verdict Nov. 3, rejecting all seven bond propositions by decisive margins.

Standard & Poor's has withdrawn its D rating on a Glendale, Ariz., plant designed to convert trash into energy after the project defaulted on its October bond payment.

Kansas revenues have fallen short of projections for the fourth consecutive month, according to the state's October report.

Blaming rising pension costs, two rating agencies have downgraded Dallas' general obligation rating as the city prepares to issue $227 million of bonds.

In another sign of Texas' faltering energy economy, sales tax revenue for October fell 5.4%, according to Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

Texas voters approved a new transportation funding formula that could provide $2.5 billion for highways, but the money will not start flowing right away.

Phoenix Plans to Issue $117.9 million of revenue bonds for Sky Harbor Airport, whose traffic appears to be growing after dominant carrier U.S. Airways merged with American Airlines.

Voters in Texas will decide $9.1 billion of local bond proposals and a statewide constitutional amendment to divert $2.5 billion of sales tax revenue to transportation.

Denver voters decide this week if they will extend taxes to help fund expansion of the downtown convention center and to upgrade the National Western Stock Show complex.

San Antonio’s CPS Energy, one of the nation’s largest public power utilities, plans to price about $435 million of bonds in its only new money deal of the year.

First Southwest Co., the top financial advisor in the Southwest region, expects to be fully combined with the former Southwest Securities under the name Hilltop Securities by January.

An upgrade from Standard & Poor’s and a triple-A guarantee from the Texas Permanent School Fund will enhance the appeal of Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District’s $344 million of general obligation bonds.

With its first $810 million bond issue for a new water development program known as SWIFT, the Texas Water Development Board expects to save local utilities more than $106 million in borrowing cost.

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar lowered estimates for the state’s revenue over the next two years by about 2.3%, citing a slowdown in the state’s oil and gas economy.