Far West

Moody's Investors Service cut Torrance Memorial Medical Center's long-term rating to A2 from A1 ahead of a $234 million issue planned for next month.

Democrats fell short Tuesday in their effort to pick up an additional seat in the California Senate.

Seattle Children's Hospital will price $118 million of fixed-rate revenue bonds today in a deal driven partly by the huge demand for tax-exempt paper.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking applicants for nine attorney, administrative, and technology positions, according to notices on its website.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday for the first time charged a state — New Jersey — with violating securities fraud laws by failing to disclose to bond investors that it was underfunding its two largest pension plans.

Barclays Capital Inc. wants to patent a computer system that would generate several municipal bond indexes, but a recent Supreme Court ruling could have an impact on the application's viability.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Tuesday said it is contemplating a rule change that would prohibit dealers from underwriting new negotiated or competitive bond issues if they served as the issuer's financial adviser on the transaction.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging in federal court the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the federal Clean Air Act.

Fitch Ratings dropped its ratings on Bell to junk Tuesday, as the small Southern California city continued to reel from its unusual financial practices, which included paying a former city administrator almost $800,000 a year.

California Controller John Chiang said the city of Bell has been illegally taxing property owners for its retirement obligations, undercutting assumptions the city used to sell more than $9 million of pension obligation bonds in 2005.