Louisiana

Trustees of the Bossier Parish School Board will meet Thursday night to consider a facilities assessment report in preparation for setting a general obligation bond election in spring 2013.

DALLAS - The South Louisiana Port Commission will expand cargo-handling capabilities at the Port of South Louisiana with a new pier financed by $8 million of port revenue bonds.

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed $699 million of New Orleans’ municipal debt on review for possible downgrades due to “deteriorated financial performance.”

DALLAS - A vacant, hurricane-damaged residential tower in New Orleans will be rehabilitated with proceeds from Wednesday's negotiated sale of $7.4 million of multifamily revenue bonds issued by Louisiana Housing Finance Agency.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission will consider a plan Nov. 17 to refinance some of New Orleans’ debt so the city can push into 2013 a total of $15.5 million of debt service now due in 2012.

DALLAS - Repairing and replacing New Orleans' damaged and obsolete water utility infrastructure will require more than $1 billion of new revenue debt by 2020 and a doubling of customer rates to finance and operate the water, sewer and drainage networks, a report warns.

The Louisiana State Bond Commission last week approved $300 million of funding for capital improvement projects on the Legislature’s capital outlay list.

Bobby Jindal was re-elected to a second four-year term as Louisiana’s governor on Oct. 22, carrying all 64 parishes and collecting 673,000 of the 1.02 million votes cast in the open primary.

Only 31% of voters approved a $561 million bond proposal by the Lafayette Parish School Board on Oct. 22. The final tally was 29,557 to 13,264.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is expected to be re-elected to his second four-year term Saturday in the state’s open primary voting.

DALLAS - New Orleans' municipal finances are "on the right track" after years of fiscal mismanagement, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Monday as he presented a proposed $495 million operating budget to the City Council.

An 18-story hotel in New Orleans that never reopened after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 will be imploded next month to make way for Louisiana State University’s new academic hospital.

A new parish prison received the highest priority on a list of public safety projects that could be financed by a proposed bond program in East Baton Rouge Parish.

The Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget last week accepted a revised business plan for a $1.088 billion state hospital in New Orleans.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission on Thursday authorized $18 million of revenue bonds supported by state payments for a tuition-free public charter school in Lake Charles.

Financing public safety needs with bond proceeds could endanger East Baton Rouge Parish’s bond ratings, Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden told a committee on Monday.

DALLAS - Loyola University New Orleans plans to renovate and expand five structures on its campus in the uptown section of New Orleans with proceeds from $125 million of revenue bonds.

DALLAS - The board overseeing the construction of a $1.1 billion Louisiana state hospital in New Orleans unanimously adopted a revised no-debt financial plan on Thursday.

DALLAS - No revenue bond debt will be required to build a new $1 billion state teaching hospital in New Orleans under a revised business plan being considered Thursday by the University Medical Center Management Corp.

Economic activity in Louisiana spurred by oil and gas exploration and production is a bright spot in a sputtering national economy, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said last week.