Richard Williamson

Kansas revenues fell $4.4 million below expectations in April, the state Department of Revenue reported as state lawmakers returned to Topeka to complete the budget for the coming fiscal year.

Two bills that passed in the Texas Senate would increase funds to shield military bases from the next round of closures or help them convert to civilian uses.

The Port of Beaumont Navigation District that ranks as the largest shipping point for U.S. military cargo gets a Moody’s Investors Service downgrade to A3 from A2 based on recent negative revenue trends.

In a rare unanimous vote, the Texas House passed the first sales tax reduction in the state’s history as part of $4.9 billion of tax cuts, veering away from the Senate’s property tax relief.

Bondholders for a failed private jail would receive about 55 cents on the dollar under a proposed sale of the $35.4 million lockup to Burnet County, Texas, according to a trustee's disclosure.

Citing a decline in the oil and gas industry, Standard & Poor’s lowered the underlying rating on Venus Independent School District near Dallas to A from A-plus.

With a lawsuit between its two ski resorts settled, Park City, Utah, has earned a Standard & Poor’s upgrade on its sales-tax revenue bonds to AA-minus from A-plus.

Two Houston attorneys were named special prosecutors to look into criminal charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has admitted to violating state securities law prior to his election last November.

Denver International Airport chief Kim Day rebuffs accusations of faulty accounting on the $544 million South Terminal Project that includes a hotel and commuter rail station.

Maverick County, Texas, faces an uncertain future after losing the operator of its $42 million private detention center that defaulted on its debt amid a federal corruption investigation and missing audits.

Colorado's $25 billion state budget is already signed, but lawmakers still have other bills to resolve before the imminent end of their session including a proposal to authorize $3.5 billion of tax revenue anticipation notes for highway projects.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback announced $72 million in spending cuts for the fiscal year beginning July 1 after new estimates projected a $400 million budget deficit.

The Oklahoma House approved a bill that pre-empts local control of oil and gas drilling after an official report linked disposal wells to swarms of earthquakes.

With Texas school funding still undecided in Austin, the El Paso Independent School District, one of the largest in the state, estimates that it will face a $12 million deficit in the coming fiscal year.

A Wasatch County, Utah, district that defaulted on $41 million of bonds for a wastewater treatment plant is accused of deliberate deception in a report from the state Auditor’s Office.

After years of official skepticism, publicly funded studies in Texas and Oklahoma cite oil and gas industry activity as the probable cause of earthquakes in the two states.

Texas power producers can expect weakening demand in 2015 as they cope with new federal regulations and falling prices, according to Standard & Poor’s.

A bill by Colorado Sen. Randy Baumgardner would authorize $3.5 billion of tax revenue anticipation notes to capture low interest rates and accelerate highway construction in the state.

A Moody's Investors Service downgrade drops Texas Southern University's $81 million of debt to the lowest investment grade rating of Baa3 with a continued negative outlook.

Standard & Poor's converted its positive outlook on Utah Transit Authority to a one-notch upgrade to A-Plus on April 17, citing the authority's improved coverage ratios after a January refunding.