California

Sacramento, Calif., leaders and the owners of the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings announced a tentative deal Monday to build a new arena in the city.

Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service further downgraded Stockton, Calif., bonds this week after its City Council voted to delay bond payments and enter negotiations with creditors to try to avoid bankruptcy.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Stockton, Calif., City Council voted Tuesday night to default on payments tied to $330 million of bonds and begin negotiations to try to avoid Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

LOS ANGELES — Officials at Downey Regional Medical Center are probably wondering if five will be their lucky number after the bankrupt Southern California hospital announced the fifth postponement of a planned bond buyback Monday in a disclosure filing.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and House Transportation Committee chairman John Mica traded jabs over the funding of California's high-speed rail project Wednesday, the latest public display of the rift between House Republicans and the Obama administration over the future of American transportation.

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County district attorney's office spokeswoman confirmed that prosecutors launched an inquiry in November into an ethics complaint made by a private citizen against county assessor John Noguez.

Stockton, Calif.'s announcement that it may cease general fund payments toward debt service on hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds, and take initial steps towards bankruptcy, is still shaking out in the market.

Stockton, Calif., City Council members will be asked Tuesday to stop making general fund payments toward several bond issues and to take the first step toward a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, according to a disclosure statement filed Friday on the MSRB's EMMA website.

LOS ANGELES — California Controller John Chiang and state Sen. Kevin de León, D-L.A., unveiled legislation on Tuesday to recast a bond-based program encouraging cost-effective retrofits of commercial buildings throughout the state.

Two moves to block San Diego’s comprehensive pension-reform initiative from going to the voters were rejected this week by Superior Court judges, according to city attorney Jan Goldsmith.

California’s 24 local pension systems are underfunded to the tune of $135.7 billion, according a new report from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

The Stockton City Council on Tuesday is expected to take what would be an initial step toward bankruptcy, according to published reports.

LOS ANGELES — The two-month-old Los Angeles chapter of Women in Public Finance has announced its inaugural luncheon, "Roundtable on Current Topics for Municipalities," March 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the downtown Los Angeles office of Squire Sanders, located at 555 S. Flower Street, 31st Floor.

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California this week will sell $500 million of 100-year bonds in an effort to attract pension fund and overseas investors.

SAN FRANCISCO — Oakland Unified School District lost its only remaining rating last week after Moody's Investors Service pulled its coverage of the district with more than $700 million of general obligation debt outstanding.

The Santa Clara City Council voted 5 to 1 Tuesday to approve a contract that would start construction on a $1 billion-plus stadium for the San Francisco 49ers football team in July, according to local press reports.

The California Department of Finance said Wednesday that state revenues in January came in $630 million below forecasts in the Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal.

Two of the largest public transit projects planned as part of Los Angeles’ effort to create a comprehensive rail system traversing Los Angeles County got the nod in President Obama’s budget.

A decision by the Los Angeles World Airports board of commissioners would appear to soften their stance on returning LA/Ontario International Airport to local control, though LAWA has posted a new website saying otherwise.

When it comes to the regional economies of Southern California, first in, first out applies to Orange County, as its economy began to recover in September 2010, according to a report released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.