Far West

The California State Public Works Board is leading the new issue calendar this week with a $625 million sale of lease revenue bonds scheduled for Thursday.

Washington, D.C., and Detroit have the strongest funded pension plans, with Chicago the weakest, Morningstar Inc. said in a research report.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System wants to skip steps in its appeal of the order granting San Bernardino, Calif., the eligibility to be in Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's municipal advisor registration rule will appear in the Federal Register Nov. 12, starting the 60-day countdown until it becomes effective Jan. 13.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of about $171 million of bonds issued by the East Baton Rouge, La. Sewerage Commission in 2006 without changing the bonds' tax-exempt status.

In a faltering economic environment where philanthropy often falls short, museums and memorials are looking to innovative bond structures and star-studded fundraising campaigns to finance their projects.

Stockton's vote to approve raising the sales tax is a credit positive for the city and for its bond insurers as it increases the likelihood that the bankruptcy exit plan will be approved, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Natwar Gandhi, the District of Columbia's chief financial officer, says that while it's time to retire from his post, he would have liked to have explored the idea of a public-private partnership to fund the district's infrastructure needs and find a way to help the poor given the city's narrow tax base.

An agreement on funding new and renewed transportation infrastructure could be the basis of a bipartisan budget deal, President Barack Obama said Friday at the Port of New Orleans in south Louisiana.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday announced that LeeAnn Gaunt will lead its enforcement division's municipal securities and public pensions unit, replacing Elaine Greenberg, who left to join a law firm.