Far West

The Obama administration is calling on the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling that would allow fossil-fuel-burning plants, and potentially publicly owned power utilities, to be sued as contributors to climate change.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Oregon’s budget woes have worsened with the state economist’s office forecasting a more than 3% drop in revenue due mainly to a dearth in tax collections.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow it to expand the number of board members from 15 to 21 for its new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

WASHINGTON — Moody’s Investors Service is pushing state and local issuers to agree to indemnify and hold it and its officers harmless for any mistakes they might make as a precondition to assigning ratings on municipal bond transactions, market participants said Thursday.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — California lawmakers are rushing through hundreds of bills as they face a looming deadline to adjourn their 2010 session.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department is considering whether it needs to issue guidance to address a potential ambiguity in the tax code that could bar issuers selling qualified energy conservation bonds from taking full advantage of available tax credits.

ALAMEDA, Calif. – Standard & Poor’s Thursday placed Bell, Calif.’s redevelopment agency bonds on negative CreditWatch, marking the latest setback for the small Southern California city in the wake of revelations of its unusual financial practices, which included paying its former city administrator almost $800,000 a year.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Wednesday said it’s considering whether its Rule G-37 on political contributions should require municipal securities dealers to disclose the names of political action committees controlled by bank holding companies or other affiliates.

WASHINGTON — The vast majority of early Build America Bond subsidy payments were processed in a timely and accurate manner during the first five months of the program, with no evidence of fraud or errors, according to a new report.

WASHINGTON — A northern Virginia county suing federal and state transportation authorities over certain environmental exemptions for planned high-occupancy toll lanes on two interstate highways has asked the court to add another federal official as a defendant.