Far West

Reno, Nevada, conducted a special budget workshop July 15 in an attempt to plug a $2 million hole created when a Washoe County District Judge filed an injunction on June 24 preventing the city from laying off 33 firefighters

Dealers pay less for munis than customers, particularly when there is more time between trades, according to a long-awaited study commissioned by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. But market sources say the finding is not surprising and that the report is limited in its results.

Puerto Rico's non-voting representative in Congress met with credit rating agencies and investment bankers in New York last weekend, seeking to assure them of Puerto Rico's economic future.

Chances for swift passage of a billion bailout of the highway fund rise with Obama's support of the House's temporary fix.

A ruling that Stockton's pension obligations can be treated the same as other contracts in municipal bankruptcy would have significant impacts on some local government bondholders in California, according to Moody's Investors Service.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has permanently barred a former employee of a broker-dealer and investment advisory firm from the financial markets and ordered him to pay more than $200,000 of restitution to a customer he swindled.

Janney Capital Markets is concerned that Standard & Poor's ratings for some local governments may be too high and out of step with current credit conditions.

Bankruptcy court filings indicates mediation dates have been set for insurers to wrap San Bernardino's bonds to negotiate their fate in the city's Chapter 9 bankruptcy case.

An economic study that stresses the value of investments in transportation is part of a weeklong effort by President Obama to get a long-term highway funding bill.

For the first time since 2007, California ended the fiscal year with a positive cash balance in its general fund, according to State Controller John Chiang.