Far West

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia will price $320 million of income tax-secured tax-exempt bonds next week to refund three previous debt issues, district officials said.

A taxpayer with a marginal income tax rate of 7.5% would have been indifferent to purchasing high-rated tax-exempt or taxable corporate bonds last year because there was only a .35% spread between these bonds, a joint Congressional committee concluded in a report issued Monday.

Market participants are stepping up their efforts in support of muni-friendly provisions in the Senate highway bill, as that body prepares to head to conference with the House to resolve differences in legislation each chamber has passed providing funding for the nation's surface transportation programs.

CHICAGO — The Federal Trade Commission's success so far in challenging two high-profile hospital mergers could signal fresh pressure on the sector, which is in the midst of a transforming consolidation trend.

LAS VEGAS — The National Federation of Municipal Analysts presented awards to market participants, including issuers for the first time, at its annual award dinner here Thursday night.

WASHINGTON — A majority of governments, nonprofits, corporations and institutional investors surveyed would either reduce or discontinue their use of money market funds if the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted certain reforms, such as switching to a floating net-asset value, according to a study done for the Investment Company Institute.

Municipal bond issuers now may be more open to declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on loan payments, panelists said at the National Federation of Municipal Analysts annual meeting here Thursday.

The effort to build a commuter rail line through the two counties north of California's Golden Gate has been a story of ups and downs mimicking the rolling countryside of Marin and Sonoma counties.

WASHINGTON — State tax revenues at the end of last year rose for the first time above the peak levels at the beginning of the Great Recession after two straight years of growth, the Rockefeller Institute said in a report issued Thursday.

Fitch Ratings this week upgraded the Oregon Health and Science University to A-plus from A as the school prepares to come to market next week with $268 million of revenue bonds.