Far West

The Portland Metro Council approved a financing plan for a 600-room Hyatt hotel near the Oregon Convention Center, which includes issuing bonds backed by room taxes.

The tax-exempt market ended weaker Thursday, following Treasuries, as two major deals priced in the primary market, including $5.5 billion of California notes and Chicago Parks District.

Officials overseeing bankrupt JeffCo get a lesson in "disclosure responsibilities" from disclosure expert John McNally, a partner at Hawkins, Delafield, & Wood.

Congress should establish a national infrastructure bank and offset the appropriation for it with revenue from a one-time repatriation tax holiday, the Brookings Institution urged in a report released Thursday.

Issuers, non-dealer municipal advisors, and financial reform advocates are upset that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board' "public members" continue to have close ties to dealer firms, complaining this undermines the Dodd-Frank Act intent that the board be majority public.

California priced $5.5 billion of revenue anticipation notes on Thursday at its lowest interest rates in decades.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $69.83 million of sales tax revenue refunding bonds issued by the Regional Transportation District in Colorado in 2007.

A proposed utility tax increase that will be voted on in November is a credit neutral for Tacoma Power, Moody's Investors Service said.

Sales of municipal bonds in the Far West region grew by almost 11% during the first half of 2013 compared to a year earlier as low rates continued to drive volume.

The credit ratings of 15 California transit agencies are on review for downgrade by Moody's Investors Service because the Obama administration is challenging changes to state pension law.