Far West

Transportation officials and an advocacy group in Virginia are battling over whether a Virginia or District of Columbia judge should decide whether drivers on the Dulles Toll Road are being illegally charged tolls used to back bonds issued for the Dulles Metrorail project.

Maple Grove, Minn., has disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service has initiated an audit of $53.8 million of bonds it issued in 2005 to finance renovations and construction to two health care facilities.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced yesterday that it is changing its Real-time Transaction Reporting System to increase the time dealers have to report trades late and make corrections to previously reported trades.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Oakland-based Bay Area Toll Authority plans to sell $1.3 billion in its first taxable Build America Bond deal next week.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department’s Inspector general for tax administration has found the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt bond office cannot determine if states are complying with volume cap limits for private-activity bonds.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation’s inspector general is warning that at least 10 airport improvement program grants distributed by the Federal Aviation Administration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “may have questionable economic merit or could involve recipients that have had grant management problems.”

SAN FRANCISCO — Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings yesterday said they planned to upgrade California’s economic recovery bonds after a $3 billion refunding deal next week.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to soon propose revising its Rule G-37 on political contributions to require municipal securities dealers, their muni professionals, and political action committees to disclose the political contributions they make to bond ballot election campaigns, the board announced yesterday, following its quarterly meeting last week.

WASHINGTON — State and local housing finance agency officials could barely contain their excitement at the Obama administration’s unveiling yesterday of its long-awaited bond purchase and liquidity program.

WASHINGTON —The Obama administration yesterday unveiled a long-awaited temporary bond purchase and liquidity program designed to help state and local housing finance agencies that have been forced to curtail or shut down their programs during the financial crisis.