Far West

WASHINGTON — Rating agencies have expressed serious concerns about the District of Columbia’s financial status, particularly regarding its foreclosure this month on a troubled hospital, according to a letter the chief financial officer sent to city officials Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin Wednesday introduced a new bill that enables Congress to make another attempt at extending several bond provisions slated to expire at the end of the year, including Build America Bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department Tuesday indicted three former financial services executives — Dominick P. Carollo, Steven E. Goldberg and Peter S. Grimm — on a total of 12 criminal counts for allegedly participating in wire fraud schemes and conspiracies in connection with the bidding for investment contracts for municipal bond proceeds over a seven-year period.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The good news: two California leaders are on record saying when they will be ready to get the state budget done. The bad news: it’s after the November election.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Washington has upsized the refunding component of Wednesday’s general obligation bond sale, bringing the amount of debt being priced to $839 million.

WASHINGTON — A draft bill released by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin late Monday would authorize over $5 billion in new bond authority for renewable energy projects and open the door for private-activity bonds to be used by states and localities to finance energy-efficient upgrades to residential homes.

Members of Congress and local officials yesterday pushed for passage of pending legislation that would create jobs at the county and city level, in an effort to avoid losses of up to 500,000 government jobs over the next year and a half.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is wrestling with how much it needs to increase its staff, technological capability, and funds to implement provisions of the new financial regulatory reform law that require it to make the most expansive changes since its creation in 1975.

A discussion draft of a new bill unveiled yesterday by House Ways and Means Committee chairman Sander Levin, D-Mich., would allow state and local governments to issue tax-exempt private-activity bonds to finance energy improvements to residential homes and would authorize more than $5 billion for new renewable energy bonds.

Airports may begin seeking more public-private partnership agreements as financing needs mount and more private investors step forward, market participants said at a panel here last week.