Far West

WASHINGTON - UBS Financial Services Inc. was fined $300,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for failing to supervise and prevent excessive cross-trading of municipal securities between the customer accounts of one broker for a two-year period.

SAN FRANCISCO - California's Department of Finance said Monday that state revenues continue to slip compared to budget forecasts, leading the Golden State closer to mid-year budget cuts.

WASHINGTON - Starting Monday, two of the three major rating agencies will post muni bond ratings for free on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA web site, the MSRB said Monday.

Montebello, a Los Angeles-area city that has been the subject of multiple investigations and audits, issued $2.5 million of tax and revenue anticipation notes at a 4.85% interest rate Thursday.

California's redevelopment agencies may be closer to death's door than previously thought after a state Supreme Court hearing on Thursday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has referred unregistered municipal advisors to the Securities and Exchange Commission for investigation and possible enforcement action, the board said Thursday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Morgan Stanley $1 million and ordered it to pay $371,476 in restitution to customers for excessive markups and markdowns on municipal and corporate bonds.

The Senate Thursday voted 95 to 0 to repeal a tax law provision that would require federal, state, and local governments to withhold 3% of certain payments made to private contractors beginning in 2013.

Standard & Poor's Tuesday lowered its ratings on $36.5 million of outstanding debt held by the Reno Redevelopment Agency.

The on-again, off-again plans for an extension to a toll road that serves as an alternative to congested Interstate 5, the only freeway linking Orange County to San Diego County, looks to be back on again.