Florida

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating bonds issued in 2013 by the former scandal-ridden Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority and underwritten by Citi.

Issuers in the Southeast sold $48.8 billion of municipal bonds in 2014, according to Thomson Reuters, down 14.3% from 2013 to decline for the second consecutive year.

Raymond James has hired banker Todd Barnes to join the firm's public finance group in Atlanta, and to focus on issuers in Georgia and South Carolina.

A long-running debate over how to cure Jacksonville's $1.62 billion police and fire pension liability has sparked a call for an audit and state investigation into the finances of Florida's largest city.

Miami-Dade County plans to use a public-private partnership to build and repair its court and jail facilities. Qualifications from firms will be sought soon.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's lack of board appointments to the Florida Development Finance Corp. calls into question its authority to issue bonds, including billions in debt it has agreed to issue.

Standard & Poor's upgraded Miami's general obligation bond ratings to A-plus from BBB citing the city's improved financial management practices and budget flexibility.

The effort to resuscitate spring training on Florida's east coast advanced this week with the approval of a land swap for a bond-financed MLB ballpark.

Public power utilities in five southern states most likely face fiscal challenges in complying with the EPA's Clean Power Plan, a new index by Fitch Ratings shows.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott recommended a $77 billion budget and new tax cuts for the upcoming fiscal year.

The trustee for the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority's defaulted bonds wants a toll increase for the Garcon Point Bridge but north Florida residents are opposing the plan.

Bonds issued by the Village Center Community Development District in Florida, the subject of a years-long audit and a controversial technical advice memorandum, are taxable private-activity bonds, the IRS said in a new notice of proposed issue.

The All Aboard Florida private passenger train project has received a $1.75 billion federal private activity bond allocation along with conditions that impose a tight timeframe to issue the debt..

The Florida Department of Transportation has launched plans for a series of Interstate express lanes to be built in the Tampa Bay area.

Raymond James has hired health care veteran Pete Lawson as a managing director to co-head hospital mergers and acquisitions in the firm's health care finance group. He is based in Naples, Fla.

While entangled in a federal lawsuit over disclosure issues, Miami rolled out a new transparency initiative to make financial data publicly available.

Florida legislators launched a new website to get public input on how to spend an estimated $22.6 billion over the next 20 years for conservation efforts.

Public finance attorney Randy Hanna returned to practice at Bryant Miller Olive in January after serving as chancellor of the Florida College System.

Former Miami, Fla. budget director Michael Boudreaux is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court decided not to reconsider its decision to disqualify his immunity from a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

The Florida dirt bond sector, after retrenching dramatically during the financial crisis, is showing signs of recovery in both market activity and credit measures.