Far West

LOS ANGELES - The University of California, Los Angeles, plans to build a $152 million on-campus hotel and conference center to be funded by a $40 million donation and $112 million of bonds.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Memphis-based Morgan Keegan & Co. has hired Rob Larkins as a managing director to head up the firm's new public finance office in San Francisco.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board unveiled an online toolkit for muni issuers Monday, telling state and local governments that underwriters, unlike muni advisors, do not have a fiduciary duty to issuer clients.

Regulatory priorities for the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service this year and next include proposing guidance for Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds, according to plans they recently released.

WASHINGTON - Dealer groups and market participants criticized the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's draft rule on broker's brokers last week, saying it would undermine, not improve, secondary market liquidity.

SAN FRANCISCO - Moody's Investors Service downgraded Wenatchee, Wash.'s general obligation ratings three notches due to concerns over city-backed debt issued to pay for a struggling arena.

WASHINGTON - The Senate failed to move forward on Thursday with either of the separate infrastructure jobs bills proposed by Democrats and Republicans.

SAN FRANCISCO - The San Jose Redevelopment Agency has received an extension on letters of credit from JPMorgan on $95 million of variable-rate debt, avoiding the threat of a default this month.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would for the first time require broker-dealers to disclose to state and local governments that they are not fiduciaries and would prohibit underwriters from telling issuers not to hire financial advisors, under revised rule changes it filed Thursday.

SAN FRANCISCO - California's plan for a bond-funded high-speed train system just got more expensive. Fifty billion dollars more expensive.