Far West

Fitch Ratings upgraded San Francisco Community College District, Calif.’s general obligation bonds to A from BBB-plus.

A state authority in Wyoming is considering financing port projects in Oregon or Washington to strengthen Wyoming’s coal industry.

A coalition comprised of businesses, labor union, community groups and non-profits took a significant step forward on plans to build a desalinization plant in Huntington Beach, Calif.,

A House bill would stop federal funding for public transit and bike paths to protect solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.

California lawmakers proposed legislation to accelerate more than $1 billion in bond spending for drought relief as the state enters its fourth year of drought.

Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC opens, a Los Angeles-area firm that manages $7 billion in assets including many munis, opened a San Francisco office as part of a larger expansion plan.

Lawmakers are concerned about the Securities and Exchange Commission's extensive use of administrative proceedings to enforce securities laws in the wake of the Dodd-Frank Act, a trend that has not extended to municipal cases.

Ports on the West Coast are recovering from the cargo backup that developed during a recent labor dispute and are turning their attention to long-term strategic threats from ports in other regions.

Water utility executives from 47 states stormed Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to repeal a ban on the use of tax-exempt bonds for projects already benefiting from certain federal assistance.

Issuers in Colorado and Nevada separately disclosed this week that the Internal Revenue Service is conducting routine audits of bonds they issued in 2006.