Richard Williamson

More than $1.2 billion of the $5.4 billion of bond proposals on Texas ballots went down to defeat in local elections May 9.

Arizona will not need to use its rainy day fund to balance the budget after April revenues came in much stronger than expected, officials said.

Plans to close LaMarque Independent School District near Houston have been placed on hold, prompting an update on the district’s A-minus underlying rating from Standard & Poor’s.

An 8.2% increase in income tax receipts kept Oklahoma revenues positive despite the continued weakness of oil and gas income.

Fast-growing areas of Texas are seeking $4.8 billion of bonds for cities, schools and special districts as legislators in Austin deliberate on funding priorities for local governments.

To finance a major expansion, the Texas Children’s Hospital will issue $354 million of debt, including fixed and variable rate bonds.

With the oil and gas sectors slowing, Texas saw sales tax revenues were up a modest year-over-year 1.1% in April, according to state Comptroller Glenn Hegar.

After a petition drive and series of legal battles, the Topeka, Kan., City Council rejected a proposal to buy the Heartland Park racetrack with state sales tax and revenue bonds.

Standard & Poor’s has shifted its outlook on Mesa, Ariz.’s utility debt to negative after transfers of revenue to the city’s general fund.

A push for $10 billion of pension bonds in the last days of the Colorado General Assembly died as the state Senate Finance Committee voted to postpone the bill indefinitely.

From fracking to plastic shopping bags, local governments are seeing unprecedented loss of control in the 2015 Texas Legislature, according to the Texas Municipal League.

Arizona gets a ratings lift from Moody's Investors Service to Aa2 from Aa3 as analysts cite efforts to stabilize the state budget.

In the biggest month of the year for revenue, Arkansas reported a 6.4% increase compared to the same month last year, with fiscal year income 3.9% above forecast.

With its triple-A ratings solidly intact, Utah claimed $16 million of interest savings on two issues worth $220 million that priced competitively last month, officials said.

Texas lawmakers are making another attempt to put limits on or bar capital appreciation bonds as their 2015 session enters its final month.

Competing with Texas for the right to store high-level radioactive waste from other states, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says her state deserves top consideration.

A sentencing recommendation of 15 years in prison for former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner prompts an objection from her lawyer.

Austin Energy, one of the 10 largest public utilities in the nation, will offer the market $435 million of bonds backed by system revenues as it keeps seeking environmentally friendly power sources.

After winning final passage in the Colorado House, a bill providing nearly $10 billion of pension bonds for the state retirement system must clear the Senate in two days.

Texas Rep. Joe Pickett’s bill that could provide more than $3 billion in general sales tax revenue to non-tolled highways won approval in the House.