Louisiana

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.

Moody’s Investors Service last week downgraded the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board’s revenue debt to Baa1 from A3 with a negative outlook. The move affects $172 million of outstanding sewer revenue bonds.

DALLAS — New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has called on the board overseeing Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport for a "robust analysis" on whether to build a new terminal or expand the existing facilities.

The Clay Gas Utility District of Clay County on Tuesday filed a notice saying that it hopes to make a tender offer for some or all of its bonds, which are in default.

Denham Springs Mayor Jimmy Durbin said earlier this week that $50 million of sales tax revenue bonds issued in 2007 to bring in a Bass Pro Shops store could be paid off years earlier than planned.

The Shreveport City Council Tuesday approved a list of capital improvement projects that will be financed with $79 million of general obligation bond proceeds.

DALLAS - The Louisiana State Bond Commission gave the go-ahead Thursday for the sale of $31 million of tax-credit bonds to finance an energy-efficiency effort at state prisons.

The Louisiana Legislature failed to implement long-term financial solutions while balancing the fiscal 2012 budget, Treasurer John Kennedy said last week in a letter to the editor sent to media outlets in the state.

DALLAS - A proposed $748 million capital improvement plan for East Baton Rouge Parish, La., was officially killed Wednesday night by the Metropolitan Council.

Officials of the Parishwide School District of Orleans Parish and the state-operated New Orleans Recovery School District said Monday they would revise current plans to ensure that New Orleans’ hurricane-damaged schools will be rebuilt or replaced with the $2 billion in federal aid already received for the effort.

The combined rebuilding program of Louisiana’s Orleans Parish School District and state-operated New Orleans Recovery School District needs to be reconsidered, a coalition of New Orleans business and civic groups said last week.