Florida

Florida is preparing to sell $390 million of revenue bonds for seaport and transportation projects after getting the OK from top elected officials Sept. 24.

St. Augustine, Fla.'s Glenmoor continuing care retirement community in World Golf Village filed for bankruptcy owing municipal bondholders more than $57.1 million.

Large federal flood insurance rate increases starting Oct. 1 threaten to derail the slowly improving economy in Southeastern Gulf coast states, said regional officials.

With Southeast issuers facing big-ticket costs to rehab water and sewer systems under federal court orders, doubt about the future of munis is raising concern.

Jennifer Montero will be the new chief financial officer of Florida's state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and John Rollins will be the new chief risk officer.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the operator of Miami-Dade County, Fla.'s largest hospital with defrauding investors by failing to disclose its financial woes prior to an $83 million bond offering.

Florida's economists project that the state will have a windfall of $845.7 million to spend in 2015, and Gov. Rick Scott wants to spend $500 million on tax cuts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, Miami, Fla., and the city's former budget director agree they are unlikely to settle a bond-related securities fraud case and that the trial will be lengthy, according to a joint scheduling report they filed with a federal court in Miami.

The Florida Department of Transportation is seeking proposals from investors and developers to finance, design, and build the state's first privately operated tolled expressway.

S&P has junked the rating of Florida's Learning Gate Community School to BB citing liquidity and operating performance at the long-time charter school.

The Miami-Dade County Commission wants the Justice department to dismiss its antitrust suit to block the merger of US Airways and American Airlines.

The Village Center Community Development District in Florida is urging the Internal Revenue Service to allow its $427.2 million of bonds to remain tax-exempt, claiming the IRS’ finding that the bonds are taxable alters long-standing and well-settled law and should not be retroactively applied.

Florida’s Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority will seek a new director after a flap between board members about decisions, including the resignation of the CFO.

Miami-Dade County is preparing the first bonds for a $1 billion capital improvement program at PortMiami to prepare for larger ships to arrive through the Panama Canal.

Fitch Ratings has returned Florida's outlook to stable from negative, becoming the last of the three major rating agencies to do so following the economic downturn.

Standard & Poor's dropped the investment-grade rating of an 11-year-old charter school in Boynton Beach, Fla., well into junk territory.

The University of Florida's Shands Healthcare has agreed to pay $26.2 million to settle allegations due to overpayments by Medicare and Medicaid.

Florida's debt management policy now requires that underwriters certify that they are not engaging in prohibited transactions with Iran or Sudan.

The Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority, which has been in default on toll revenue bonds since July 2011, has agreed to have a traffic study done.

The Internal Revenue Service sent an updated Form 5701 Notice of Proposed Issue to Florida's Village Center Community Development District this week with regard to it not being a political subdivision for tax-exempt financing purposes.