Far West

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department told issuers on Wednesday that they may release guidance as soon as possible on tax law issues triggered by the end of the year with regard to certain auction-rate securities and draws under draw-down loans or commercial paper programs.

A California court has placed another roadblock in front of the state government's plans to sell 11 office properties to private investors, while entering into long-term leases to occupy the buildings.

Municipal market groups next year will face an uphill battle trying to get Congress to resurrect the Build America Bond program and other bond-related tax incentives that expire Dec. 31.

Bad legal advice turned a straightforward refunding deal into an expensive mess, a California school district contends in the lawsuit it filed against Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, its bond counsel on the transaction.

The California State Controller's Office has filed a motion in the Vallejo, Calif., bankruptcy case, saying state intercept funds should be used to protect debt owners.

Faced with the loss of stimulus aid, state and local governments are hoping the economy will rebound in time to support their budgets and defuse market concerns over credit downgrades and possible bond defaults, market participants said in their outlooks for 2011.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are in a jurisdictional dispute over which agency will regulate municipal swap advisers, sources said.

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has filed another brief in the Vallejo, Calif., bankruptcy case in support of bond insurer National Public Finance Guarantee.

WASHINGTON — Improving economic conditions are likely to put new stresses on the nation’s roads, airports and ports in 2011, but congressional gridlock could stymie efforts to pass already delayed funding packages for capital investments in surface transportation and the air-travel network.

SAN FRANCISCO — A Superior Court judge has granted a restraining order temporarily blocking city and state transportation officials from inking the Presidio Parkway Project deal to upgrade the main roads linking the Golden Gate Bridge with San Francisco.