Far West

SAN FRANCISCO — After California granted a franchise to build a private toll highway in San Diego County, it took almost 17 years before the 10-mile road opened to the public.

The executive board of the Government Finance Officers Association is again engaging in a spirited dispute against the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, this time arguing that it should cease its work on a project that aims to set standards for forward-looking statements in government financial documents.

The accounts at Causey Demgen & Moore Inc. are teaming up with the attorneys at Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC to help charitable organizations meet their post-issuance compliance obligations.

President Obama has announced that he will appoint Michael Mundaca as the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy during the congressional recess, citing “months of Republican obstruction to administration nominees” as the reason for bypassing the Senate.

SAN FRANCISCO — When ­Wisconsin’s insurance regulator divided Ambac Assurance Corp.’s insurance portfolio into good and bad policies last week, municipal bonds issued for the bankrupt Las Vegas Monorail were the only muni debt placed into the Ambac rehabilitation account, which consists largely of the toxic mortgage-related securities that brought the company to its knees.

WASHINGTON — One year after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act fundamentally altered the municipal landscape, market participants are pressing lawmakers to extend and expand its provisions.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s antitrust investigation has found dozens of firms and individuals conspired for at least six to eight years to secretly control the bidding for municipal bond investment and other contracts in more than 250 transactions, according to documents filed with a federal court in Manhattan.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Los Angeles City Council unexpectedly shot down Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s plan to raise electricity prices to fund city electric utility’s transition to renewable energy late Friday.

WASHINGTON — John Kendrick, the former Southwest Securities Inc. banker who is being charged in a Securities and Exchange Commission administrative proceeding for allegedly violating pay-to-play restrictions, wants to reach a settlement with the SEC but is considering taking legal action against his former employer.

WASHINGTON — The House Thursday voted 276 to 145 to approve a bill that would increase the maximum allowable passenger facilities charge that airports can collect to $7.00 from $4.50.