Far West

MENLO PARK, Calif. — The Reno City Council meets next week to discuss how the Nevada city can avoid defaulting on bonds backed by a lease with a defunct casino.

An Internal Revenue Service agent is warning the Crystal City, Tex., Public Facilities Corp. that $13.9 million of bonds it issued in 2003 to purchase a jail may not be tax-exempt because the agency appears to have exceeded private business-use limits.

John Ramsay, a former federal regulatory and industry lawyer with broad experience in the municipal and other financial markets, plans to return to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 20, this time as a deputy director in the markets and trading division.

State tax revenues are slowly climbing out of recession levels, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government concluded in a report released Monday.

Moody’s Investors Service is not pushing municipal bond issuers to agree to indemnification language for ratings as a result of provisions in the new financial regulatory reform law that make it easier for investors to sue rating agencies, a spokesman for the firm said Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Friday asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve rule changes that would allow it to expand from 15 to 21 board members, 11 of which would be independent, public representatives not associated with securities or bank-dealer firms.

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.