Missouri

Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating on Brentwood School District, Mo., two notches to A-plus. The outlook is stable. The district has no near-term borrowing plans.

Local communities in eight states with a stake in the controversial mostly bond-financed Prairie State Energy coal project in Illinois could face fiscal stress due to the higher than projected rates they are paying and future financial risks, a new report from an pro-environmental group warns.

Kansas City, Mo., voters overwhelmingly approved a $500 million sewer bond referendum to help pay for projects under a $2.5 billion federal consent decree.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will take retail orders Wednesday and price on Thursday $225 million of revenue bonds in the first installment of a $945 million bond referendum to fund projects under a $4.7 billion consent decree.

The Missouri Development Finance Board has advanced plans to issue $4.1 million of bonds to support Wells Fargo Advisors' $33 million plan to expand its downtown St. Louis campus.

Kansas City, Missouri voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide a $500 million sewer bond authorization to finance projects required under a $2.5 billion federal consent decree.

The trustee for $39 million of appropriation revenue bonds issued for a failed artificial sweetener plant in Moberly Missouri has decided to give up on efforts to sell the half built plant to a new developer and now intends to auction off the project's assets this fall.

The Joplin School District borrows $35 million Tuesday to kick into high gear its rebuilding effort following last year's devastating tornado.

Struggling to repay $113 million in debt that financed its privately-owned and operated airport in Missouri's Ozark Mountains, Branson Airport LLC has won a reprieve against enforcement actions from bondholders in the form of an extended forbearance agreement.

Top-rated Washington University in St. Louis will sell about $200 million of taxable new-money and refunding bonds on Wednesday,

Top-rated Missouri - a rare borrower - will take competitive bids this summer on two refunding deals that will achieve significant present-value savings and provide $44 million in fiscal 2013 budget relief.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit without changing the tax-exempt status of $219.22 million of bonds that were issued by the curators of the University of Missouri in 2006.

Charity care is on the rise at Missouri hospitals and that increase is not expected to abate due to lower Medicaid enrollment and job losses due to the economy, according to a report released last week.

The St. Louis Rams submitted an expansion plan for its home at the Edward Jones Dome that could cost $500 million to $750 million, according to published reports.

CHICAGO — The Missouri Legislature wrapped things up on Friday, adjourning after completing work in recent weeks on a $24 billion fiscal 2013 budget that relies in part on some upfront savings in two upcoming bond refundings.

CHICAGO — Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James has dropped plans to seek $500 million of voter-approved general obligation borrowing authority this summer in favor of a sales tax increase and a separate $500 million sewer bond question.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has closed its audit with no change to the tax-exempt status of $19.04 million of tax-increment refunding revenue bonds that were issued in 2003 by the Florissant, Mo., Industrial Development Authority.

CHICAGO — Missouri lawmakers have shelved legislation that would have permitted the implementation of tolls on Interstate 70 to fund a $2 billion to $4 billion rebuilding and expansion of the aging highway through a public-private partnership.

The Missouri House advanced a bill that would require greater public scrutiny of tax-exempt bond assistance being sought by private companies along with increased financial disclosure by such firms.

A federal judge last week approved the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District’s $2.7 billion consent decree with federal authorities, bringing to a close a nearly five-year old lawsuit over clean-water violations.