Far West

Standard & Poor's began downgrading municipal bonds Monday, giving market participants a sense of the broad impact its downgrade of U.S. debt will likely have on the muni market.

WASHINGTON - If dealers take advantage of disruption in the financial markets to manipulate prices of municipal securities, they will be violating federal law, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board warned Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge has cleared Vallejo, Calif., to emerge from bankruptcy after three rocky years of Chapter 9 protection.

Proposed municipal advisor rules on political contributions and supervision will not become effective until the Securities and Exchange Commission finalizes registration rules and defines the term "municipal advisor" later this year, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said Friday.

Thousands of workers at the Federal Aviation Administration and airport construction projects around the country will be able to return to work this week because of a short-term funding extension.

For the second time in two months, the Internal Revenue Service has disclosed it is broadening an audit of student loan securities, focusing on the position that student loans should not be reallocated to different bond issues.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Thursday filed proposed rule changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would subject municipal advisers to similar restrictions on gifts and gratuities that already apply to broker-dealers.

LOS ANGELES - The Port of Oakland accelerated a planned bond refunding to Thursday as municipal market yields plummeted during the financial gyrations that followed Congress' last-minute action to lift the federal debt ceiling.

WASHINGTON - State and local governments may soon face a difficult choice in the ongoing fallout from state investigations of bid rigging in the municipal securities market: cash in now, or wait and collect potentially larger payments later from antitrust lawsuits seeking treble damages from banks and broker-dealers.

SAN FRANCISCO - In one of the most complicated bankruptcy cases involving municipal debt, Las Vegas Monorail Co. bondholders are battling on multiple fronts to try and ­recover some of their money.