Far West

WASHINGTON — Never before in the U.S. has there been such a push to develop high-speed rail, with Congress and the Obama administration providing funds and new programs that could ultimately get the trains up and running here as they are in other advanced countries.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats Tuesday failed for the second straight day to garner the 60 votes they needed to move forward with consideration of a massive financial regulatory reform bill by the full Senate.

A federal judge in Manhattan has refused to dismiss lawsuits four California issuers filed against Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan, and other banks, broker-dealers, and investment brokers, charging they conspired to rig bids and fix prices of guaranteed investment and derivatives contracts in the municipal market.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is urging Congress to fix a number of glitches and provisions with unintended consequences that it has identified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enacted last February.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Idaho is a state of few Build America Bond deals and few competitive bond offerings.

California’s general obligation bonds have caught fire since Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings slapped higher ratings on the state’s credit earlier this month.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department released interim guidance yesterday instructing municipal issuers how to issue four tax-credit bonds as direct-subsidy bonds, as was authorized by a jobs law enacted in March.

WASHINGTON — All 41 Senate Republicans and one Democrat voted Monday evening against limiting debate on a massive financial regulatory reform bill, depriving Democrats leadership of the 60 votes they needed to move forward with a vote the full Senate.

Four major municipal market groups yesterday urged the Treasury Department to immediately issue interim guidance on how to determine issue price for Build America Bonds, warning that confusion surrounding the topic is having a “chilling effect” on the still-developing market.

The Investment Company Institute is urging the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to expand the proposed second phase of its transparency system for short-term debt to include more types of data and documents, while the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is concerned that the expansion would be unduly onerous for dealers.