Mississippi

Butler Snow LLP has hired attorneys Steve Edds and Sue Hicks Fairbank to work in the firm’s public finance office in Richland, Mississippi.

Mississippi absorbed a downgrade from Fitch Ratings, which cited weaker-than-expected .performance and criteria changes in lowering its issuer default and general obligation ratings one notch to AA.

After Mississippi tapped its rainy day fund for a second time to cover a budget shortfall, Moody's Investors Service called the withdrawal a credit negative.

St. Louis-based Ascension Health Alliance is set to bring $1.9 billion of bonds to market in deals that fold into one package the system's new money needs, refunding opportunities and refinancing of inherited debt.

A federal judge approved a $20 billion settlement with BP to resolve litigation brought by five Gulf coast states over the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Mississippi state senators approve a placeholder measure that keeps a proposed gas tax increase on the table.

In the Southeast, pent-up need for capital and low interest rates translated into a five-year high for bond issuance in 2015.

The Hattiesburg Public School District in Mississippi saw its general obligation bond ratings drop to Baa3 from A3 due to severely eroded reserves and liquidity, according to Moody's Investors Service.

In just six months, the new Municipal Finance Group at Bonwick Capital Partners LLC has been selected as senior manager on five transactions totaling more than $150 million.

In Tuesday's election, Mississippi voters returned incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Bryant to office while Kentucky voters chose a member of the GOP to succeed their term-limited Democratic governor.