Missouri

A federal judge granted class action status to an investor lawsuit accusing the former Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. of securities fraud for its role in underwriting $39 million of defaulted bonds issued for a failed artificial sweetener plan in Moberly, Missouri.

Fitch Ratings lowered Southeast Missouri Hospital Association’s ratings two levels to BBB-minus over its operating losses.

A Missouri state audit found the Grandview School District in Missouri misused some proceeds from some of its $22 million worth of borrowing in recent years.

Bruce Cole, the head of Mamtek US, the firm that triggered a $39 million municipal bond default on debt sold for a Missouri sucralose plant, will go to prison as part of a plea deal.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon wants an economic injury disaster declaration for Ferguson to secure low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration to aid businesses hurt by the large protests that followed a fatal police shooting of an unarmed teen.

A federal judge upheld a bankruptcy court judgment against Bruce Cole, former head of Mamtek US Inc., finding he fraudulently obtained bond funds to finance a sucralose production plant in Moberly, Missouri.

A group of ratepayers from a Chicago suburb are suing five advisors and consultants, accusing them of misrepresenting the value of participation in the bond-financed Prairie State Energy Campus to the city of Batavia.

Ratepayers from a Chicago suburb will file a lawsuit as soon as Tuesday seeking compensation for steep energy rate hikes they've paid due to cost overruns at the bond-financed Prairie State Energy Campus coal-fired power plant.

A group of bondholders trying to recoup their investment in a failed Moberly, Mo. artificial sweetener plant has added as a defendant Raymond James Financial Inc. — which acquired the bond deal's underwriter and lawsuit's original target.

Borrowing by Midwest issuers slid 13.2% for the first half of 2014 but new-money issuance fueled by Chicago and Illinois deals helped boost new-money by 16.8%.

Missouri transportation officials blamed a lack of consensus on how to pay for the state's transportation needs for the failed ballot measure that sought a sales tax hike to generate more than $5 billion in new revenue.

The struggling Lakeside 370 Levee District in St. Charles County, Missouri has filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy as it seeks to restructure $34 million of unrated bonds in hopes of improving the project's prospects.

Rating agencies affirmed Missouri's triple-A but warned they are watching the impact of income tax cuts and a ballot measure that could hurt the governor's power to cut budgeted spending when revenues falter.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon slashed $800 million in spending in the fiscal 2015 budget warning the cuts were needed to keep the budget balanced due to the threat that lawmakers might restore a series of vetoed tax breaks.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed legislation establishing tax breaks and exemptions, warning that state and local governments couldn't afford the measures.

Missouri is readying a roughly $90 million appropriation-backed refunding for sale next month with plans in the works to return next year with a rare new money issue for $200 million to fund a new mental health facility.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced his opposition to a ballot measure asking voters to approve a three-fourth cent sale tax hike to fund transportation projects.

The trustee for the bondholder-owned St. Louis convention center hotel complex plans to distribute on June 20 $32 million in funds to holders of $98 million in bonds, most of it coming from the newly-closed sale of the hotel.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon issued a proclamation setting the vote on a ballot question to amend the state constitution raising the sales tax to fund transportation projects for the Aug 5.

A not-for-profit St. Louis group raised the possibility of referendum drive to try to challenge the Legislature's override of Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of an income tax cut.