Far West

LOS ANGELES — A bankruptcy judge has approved the Las Vegas Monorail Co.'s reorganization plan, allowing it to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy while nearly wiping out the investment made by bondholders.

The MSRB is citing almost a half-dozen enforcement actions against municipal securities firms that highlight the need for its new Rule G-17 guidance, which clarifies and expands on underwriters' fair-dealing obligations to state and local issuers.

A coalition of public finance groups is lobbying hard for House and Senate conferees working on a long-term highway bill to include a provision that would temporarily increase the limit for bank-qualified bonds.

President Obama's nominee for assistant secretary of the Treasury Department for financial markets suggested that he is willing to work with lawmakers on developing tax-credit bonds such as the transportation and regional infrastructure project, or TRIP, bonds. Matthew Rutherford has been nominated for the post after serving as deputy assistant secretary for three years.

LOS ANGELES — The Windrush School is in bankruptcy and bond default, but the private school in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco will be allowed to finish out its final school year after working out a settlement with the bond trustee.

After three weeks of listening to audio transcripts that ranged from titillating to tedious, jurors heard more taped conversations in Judge Harold Baer's courtroom in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

SEC members voted 3-2 to approve interpretive guidance that clarifies underwriters' fair-dealing obligations to state and local issuers and requires them to provide issuers with a host of new disclosures.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo NA plans to seek "remedies" after Stockton, Calif., failed to make lease payments that secure bonds, which could result in the city losing control of a building slated at one time to become its City Hall.

WASHINGTON — For the first time since before the recession, 29 states and the District of Columbia expect their fiscal year revenues to show modest surpluses, according to a new report.

LOS ANGELES — Like other cities across the country, Los Angeles has been forced to make tough budget decisions over the past four years. This year will be no different as city leaders wrangle with hard choices wrought by another year of austerity.As in past years, however, city departments that generate money for Los Angeles will likely be spared along with public safety positions.Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s $7.2 billion budget proposes to eliminate 669 positions and raise the retirement age for city workers to 67.