Far West

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.

Richard Jones has been tapped to head Nixon Peabody LLP's public finance practice.

California's Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency failed again to get approvals from a water board needed to move ahead on a five-mile extension of one of its toll roads.

The muni market may learn more about how issuers fared under the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation initiative after they respond next month to a survey from the Government Finance Officers Association.

A federal ruling against states may set a precedent for risky local spending on broadband, credit analysts said.

Phillip Washington, chief executive of the Regional Transportation District in Denver, was named to head the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The official decline in the number of fiscally-stressed California schools is a credit positive, according to Moody's Investors Service.

A report from the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission showed that school districts’ need for short-term borrowing declined in lock-step with the passage of Proposition 30

Tax revenue in the top oil producing states has fallen sharply, dropping by 40% in Texas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.