Far West

California Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a ballot initiative to temporarily raise the top income tax rate on individuals to as much as 12.3% - making it the highest in the country - as part of an effort to raise nearly $7 billion annually.

LOS ANGELES — An unexpected spike in California job creation numbers has the UCLA Anderson Forecast's economists speculating that the state may have turned a corner on its economic malaise.

WASHINGTON - An industry group on Tuesday will unveil a revised edition of a one-volume treatise on municipal bonds, citing significant changes in the market since the last edition went to press 10 years ago.

WASHINGTON — Touting the success of the Treasury Department’s New Issue Bond Purchase Program, a group of local housing finance agencies is urging the Obama administration to modify and extend it, this time allowing the Treasury to exchange mortgage-backed securities it holds in its portfolio for MBS that wrap NIBP bonds.

California's Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. has been forced to draw $12 million out of its reserves to make its Dec. 1 interest payment.

SAN FRANCISCO — Standard & Poor's said it downgraded the short-term rating on debt issued by a public arena in Wenatchee, Wash., to D from SP-3 after a $42 million default.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened what appears to be a sweeping investigation into the new, largely bond-financed stadium for Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board will propose that state and local governments report five-year projections of cash inflows, outflows, and future financial obligations as supplementary information, following the notes to their financial statements.

LOS ANGELES — Downey Regional Medical Center, a non-profit hospital located in greater Los Angeles, is close to reaching an agreement with Avanti Health Systems LLC that would enable it to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy and make its bondholders whole.

WASHINGTON — An issuer group urged the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to adopt suitability standards preventing the sale of inappropriate financial products to state and local governments.