Far West

President Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to pass a short-term spending cut and tax reform package as a way to stave off the looming March 1 sequestration cuts that he said would be economically damaging to the U.S. economy.

The Treasury Department has reopened the sales of State and Local Government Securities as of Tuesday at noon.

State tax revenues rose 2.7% in the third quarter of 2012 for the eleventh consecutive quarter of growth, the Rockefeller Institute of Government reported Tuesday.

California's finances are in the strongest position of any time in the last five years, Moody's Investors Service said in a report Monday. But risks remain.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval proposed issuing general obligation bonds backed by liquor taxes to fund $58 million in capital projects because the state still has no capacity for its traditional property-tax backed GOs.

District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi will retire on June 1, he announced Friday.

Fitch Ratings downgraded to A from A-plus $7.2 million of Lomita, Calif.'s water revenue bonds Thursday and gave the debt a negative outlook.

Fresno, after much of its debt was downgraded to junk by Moody's, is facing cash flow problems that will likely lead to more layoffs and service cuts.

Pennsylvania is distributing $8.6 million in restitution from JPMorgan Chase & Co., to municipalities and nonprofit organizations who were victims of a scheme to rig bids of municipal bond reinvestment contracts, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office announced.

A bill has been introduced in the state legislature to sell the naming rights for public facilities.