Far West

Moody's Investors Service has stamped a triple-A rating on Palo Alto's $20 million general obligation sale set for later this month.

A former investment banker at Goldman, Sachs, & Co. has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and be barred from the securities industry for five years for his involvement in a pay to play scheme involving a Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Agency will be seeking approval from its board in June on borrowing totaling $10.2 billion through 2026 to complete the rail transit network.

The Rockefeller Foundation selected eight cities to participate in the RE.Invest Initiative, a national effort to support sustainable infrastructure that includes financial advice on P3 options.

The California Controller's office determined in a review that the successor agency to Riverside's redevelopment agency is not only in current possession of $30.5 million in real property that it is no longer legally entitled to hold, but that it inappropriately transferred another $64.25 million in real property to the city.

Moody's Investors Service said a recent less-conservative analysis of California revenues increases the likelihood the Legislature will pass a budget with higher revenues and higher spending.

Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., has introduced a bipartisan bill that would create an American Infrastructure Fund to provide loans and loan guarantees to state and local governments to help finance certain infrastructure projects.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged South Miami, Fla. with defrauding investors by negligently making misstatements and failing to disclose actions it took that jeopardized the tax-exempt status of $12 million of bonds.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System filed motions to remove the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP from the San Bernardino and Stockton Chapter 9 cases because they hired their outside bankruptcy attorneys.

While municipal bond market participants oppose President Obama's proposal to limit the value of tax-expenditures, including the muni bond interest exclusion, to 28%, Republican proposals would be even harsher, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a recent paper.