Far West

Republicans complained about the skyrocketing cost and lack of administrative transparency surrounding the construction of the California high-speed rail project, while Democrats and regulators steadfastly defended the partially bond-financed project as an antidote to gridlock and a way to create jobs.

Nearly a year after an entirely new slate of City Council members were elected to replace corrupt officials, Bell, Calif., a Los Angeles-area working-class city of 50,000, is beginning to find its financial footing.

Los Angeles County supervisors are balking at a proposal from the county sheriff's department to issue $1.4 billion of bonds to rebuild the 5,000-bed Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

After an arena in Washington State defaulted earlier this month, investors still got paid, but it is unclear who made the mistake.

Standard & Poor's said California's midyear budget cuts are a credit positive, but its efforts to improve its budget through those cuts could be undermined if the cuts are thwarted.

Nevada revenue projections came in $21.2 million higher than expected, signaling that the state might not have to take out a $160 million line of credit to balance next year’s budget, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday withdrew its ratings on the Vallejo Unified School District’s general obligation bonds, certificates of obligation, and special tax bonds, citing insufficient information.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has solid early support for his initiative scheduled for the November ballot to temporarily raise sales taxes and taxes on the wealthy.

California Treasurer Bill Lockyer resigned from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research pension advisory panel in protest over a study it released.

Officials in the troubled Los Angeles-area city of Vernon are contemplating a possible bond issuance, among other remedies, to pay for $60 million in grants for parks and recreational facilities that were agreed to during the legislative session in order to stave off the threat of disincorporation, according to published reports.