Far West

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said he had changed his mind about prison privatization and said the Idaho Department of Correction should take over the troubled privately run Idaho Correctional Center.

Bell, Calif., which achieved national notoriety after corrupt leaders pilfered city coffers, has turned a financial corner with the aid of court settlements and a $15 million property sale.

The San Francisco Unified School District is planning to sell $205 million of general obligation bonds on Thursday to finance construction and improvements throughout the district.

An oil field boom has caused enrollment to soar in Billings, Mont. Schools, which are selling bonds to pay for new schools and additions.

President Obama's top economic advisor urges Congress to enter into a "grand bargain on jobs" in exchange for national infrastructure bank.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking applications to fill seven spots that become available Oct. 1.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has identified the suitability of the bonds of distressed municipalities for investors, as well as municipal advisor activity, as areas it will focus on in 2014.

Most California school districts appear to be on the road to financial recovery with the help of new state funding amid economic recovery.

Lowell Kalapa, 64, the longtime executive director of the nonprofit Tax Foundation of Hawaii, died Dec. 30.

Fitch Ratings has assigned an AAApre rating with a negative watch to $2.3 billion Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor 1999 revenue series bonds that are being pre-refunded using the proceeds of a refinancing of the bonds conducted earlier this month.