Missouri

Midwestern voters delivered mixed results on transportation proposals Tuesday while picking new governors and settling legislative races that stand to impact fiscal decisions in Illinois and Minnesota.

Making a big leap west, Missouri-based Gilmore & Bell PC snared an eight-lawyer public finance team from Ballard Spahr LLP’s Salt Lake City office.

Holders of $113 million of defaulted bonds issued for a Branson, Missouri Airport will get an update on airport operations and an amended forbearance agreement on Oct. 13.

St. Louis was downgraded ahead of its $25 million general obligation sale planned for later this month.

St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. reached into Indiana for its latest acquisition, City Financial Corp. in a deal that bolsters Stifel’s already strong public finance foothold in the Midwest and further cements its evolution into a national player in public finance.

The issuers of the Midwest sold $41 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2016, spurred by increased new money issuance, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The Treasury Department has determined that $385,118 of taxable general obligation qualified zone academy bonds issued by a Missouri school district in 2012 do not qualify for refundable tax credits.

St. Louis’ issuer default and Municipal Finance Corp. ratings took a three notch tumble over negative trends and Fitch Ratings application of new criteria in assessing tax-supported debt.

Missouri-based public finance law firm Gilmore & Bell PC is bulking up, adding two bond lawyers who primarily focus on school district finance.

Ferguson, Missouri will go back to voters seeking a tax hike to help balance a budget strained by a drop in tax collections, legal expenses, and the costs of tackling policing and municipal court reforms outlined in a federal consent agreement.

Poll finds scant support from Kansas City (Mo.) voters for bonds that would finance a new $964 million airport terminal.

Missouri heads into the market next week with $100 million of its high-grade paper to finance state and public university building projects as lawmakers have wrapped up work on a fiscal 2017 budget with a final vote still looming on a gasoline tax proposal.

Ferguson, Missouri’s bond ratings fell deeper into junk territory amid the fiscal strains of dealing with fallout from a controversial 2014 fatal police shooting.

Missouri Senate passes a bill setting up a statewide gasoline tax referendum in November.

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.

Three years after entering the Texas market, UMB Bank is expanding its investment banking division with 11 hires from other firms, led by Victor Pucciarelli, former senior vice president for Hilltop Securities.

The results of bond-related ballot measures in Missouri Tuesday offer mixed credit results, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Kansas City heads into the market Thursday with a $332 million new money and refunding special obligation backed issue.

St. Louis, its sewer district, and Kansas City scored fiscal victories in elections Tuesday in Missouri, when Ferguson voters rendered a split decision on proposed tax increases.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is appealing a state court ruling that blocks a portion of a 2015 law aimed at reining in local governments’ reliance on municipal court fines to fund operations.