Far West

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $21 million of variable-rate general obligation bonds that were issued in 2005 by the Spring Grove Area School District in Pennsylvania to finance school projects, but were redeemed in 2009.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The collapse of California budget negotiations this week brings with it questions about the state’s ability to schedule its annual, multibillion-dollar note sale to fund its cash flow.

WASHINGTON — A former municipal derivatives trading desk manager at Banc of America Securities LLC has pleaded guilty to one criminal count of engaging in a conspiracy to falsify bank records in connection with a scheme to rig bids and pay kickbacks for investment agreements and other financial contracts in the muni market.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ron Wyden’s plans for transportation financing legislation are now focused on tax-credit bonds instead of a scaled-down version of Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a proposed rule that would exempt municipal securities from credit-risk retention requirements imposed in the wake of the financial crisis.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Less than six years after Oregon Coast Aquarium bondholders agreed to a substantial haircut to keep the nonprofit out of bankruptcy court, the facility is again struggling with its debt service requirements.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $100 million of general obligation bonds that the Reading School District in Berks County, Pa., issued in 2005 to finance school construction and improvements.

SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has reached a tentative deal with a coalition of unions that could help curb the city’s ballooning pension and retiree health care benefit costs.

VICTORVILLE, Calif. — Despite a tempest of bad news about its finances, Victorville city leaders say bondholders are safe.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Washington Treasurer James McIntire has thrown his support behind a proposal to reduce the state’s constitutional debt limit and revise the formula used to calculate it.