Far West

Californians will soldier on for a while longer with a void in the lieutenant governor's office.

The California Assembly voted unanimously Monday to advance a bill to clear up legal concerns that have prevented the issuance of more than $770 million of qualified school construction bonds.

State and local transportation authorities in more than 40 states will receive a total of $1.5 billion in grant or loan subsidy funds to support 51 projects that range from port revitalization to toll roads and streetcars.

WASHINGTON — Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., plan to introduce bipartisan, comprehensive tax-reform legislation on Tuesday after the Senate returns from its recess.

Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service downgraded Sacramento County yesterday, as California's eighth-most populous county prepared to sell $129 million of certificates of participation.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined five firms a total of $113,000 for municipal and other trade-reporting violations. Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp. received the largest fine for muni bond rule violations: $13,000 for failing to timely report certain information from 200 municipal transactions.

A bankruptcy judge in Las Vegas is scheduled to hear arguments today over whether or not the Las Vegas Monorail Co. really is an independent nonprofit that is entitled to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Federal officials, citing a failure to adequately study the civil rights impacts of the project, have followed through on a threat to withdraw a $70 million stimulus grant that was to help finance a rail link between Oakland International Airport and the nearest Bay Area Rapid Transit District train station.

The Internal Revenue Service has decided not to alter the tax-exempt status of $57.5 million of bonds issued in 2003 by the Illinois Health Facilities Authority, now the Illinois Finance Authority, after completing an audit that focused on two former board members who pleaded guilty to defrauding Rosalind Franklin University and orchestrating kickback schemes, the issuer disclosed last week.

WASHINGTON — A mileage-based revenue system to fund federally assisted transportation projects could be implemented within about five years, the RAND Corp. said in a report released online last week.