Florida

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into an $83.3 million bond deal that Miami-Dade County sold last year on behalf of the county’s financially ailing Public Health Trust.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday chopped the underlying rating on Orlando, Fla.’s contract tourist development tax bonds to junk, to levels below where other rating agencies recently have cut the credit.

BRADENTON, Fla. — State officials this week gave the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Finance Corp. the go-ahead to sell up to $710 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds for storm-related losses that occurred in 2005.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida’s ­Citizens Property Insurance Corp. last week closed on a $2.4 billion bond sale to have liquidity on hand in case a hurricane strikes the state during the upcoming storm season, which starts June 1.

Moody's Investors Service last week became the second national rating agency to place a negative outlook on Miami's debt because of the city's weakened financial position.

Moody's Investors Service Wednesday joined Fitch Ratings and dropped its underlying rating on Orlando, Fla.'s highly leveraged tourist-tax revenue bonds into junk territory, while Standard & Poor's placed the rating on negative watch.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments today in the long quest by South Florida water managers to validate $650 million of certificates of ­participation.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Orlando, Fla., next week expects to price its second round of direct-subsidy Build America Bonds using tax-increment financing after being the first to successfully use such a structure last fall.

A year ago, Florida Division of Bond Finance director Ben Watkins was one of the biggest skeptics of Build America Bonds, mostly because the taxable debt structure didn’t fit into the tax-exempt mold.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Miami will close out fiscal 2009 with a $53.6 million deficit and faces a projected deficit of $28 million by the end of the current fiscal year if actions are not taken to cut the budget, commissioners learned late last week.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida’s largest ever public-private partnership — a $1.8 billion, limited-access toll road in Jacksonville — will begin moving forward soon.

BRADENTON, Fla. — A biomedical institute on Florida’s east coast is exploring replacing its planned conduit issuer in hopes of lowering the cost of selling $70 million of bonds to finance the construction of a research ­facility.

BRADENTON, Fla. — With President Obama’s signature barely dry on the massive health care reform bill, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department and the Department of Labor, alleging that the bill is unconstitutional.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority in central Florida expects to be in the market today with retail pricing of up to $375 million of revenue bonds.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Miami-Dade County Commission today will review a financial crisis that has enveloped the public health system whose flagship is Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Miami, which tangled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over financial disclosure issues earlier this decade, has hired the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius to represent it in the SEC’s latest probe.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The South Florida Water Management District yesterday unanimously extended a key contract deadline for its controversial plan to purchase land owned by U.S. Sugar Corp.

BRADENTON, Fla. — With the 2010 hurricane season set to begin June 1, Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is preparing to price between $2 billion and $2.4 billion of debt to raise ready cash in case it is needed to pay claims for storm-related damages.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Securities and Exchange Commission sent the Florida State Board of Administration a one-paragraph letter last week stating that the agency will not recommend enforcement action regarding the meltdown of what was one of the largest local government investment pools in the country.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Two members of Florida’s congressional delegation Friday said more federal funding is on the way for high-speed rail for the state and other areas of the country.