Far West

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing some 2002 auction rate securities issued by an Alaska authority and has closed an audit of some 2006 Louisiana transportation bonds with no change to their tax-exempt status.

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.