New York

New York City plans to begin selling $1.3 billion of general obligation bonds this week when it offers retail investors a refunding portion of the deal on Friday.

The Long Island Power Authority plans to sell Build America Bonds for 2011 capital needs by the end of this year to take advantage of the program before it expires or changes.

The new slate of bond counsel firms announced Wednesday by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York includes three teams pairing large firms with smaller minority-owned firms.

New York City’s two economic development issuers adopted new disclosure practices at a monthly board meeting on Tuesday.

New York Lieut. Gov. Richard Ravitch on Monday called for an overhaul of the state Medicaid system, which he said was on an unsustainable growth path.

New York’s large public university systems plan to market back-to-back bond issues this week with two tax-exempt offerings totaling $323.7 million.

New York Democrats chose Sen. Eric Schneiderman on Tuesday as their candidate for attorney general in November.

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority plans to market $800 million of fixed-rate bonds in two back-to-back deals this week and next.

Parking garages serving the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx are headed for default on $237.6 million of tax-exempt bonds due to low usage in the face of cheaper alternatives, the borrower disclosed last month.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority will offer up to $900 million of tax-exempt bond anticipation notes issued in the form of commercial paper under a new program.

New York plans to market new-money, tax-exempt personal income tax bonds next week for the first time since March.

The North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System Inc. has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a civil fraud lawsuit in a deal the U.S. attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

New York plans to market its second qualified school construction bond deal next week with a $133.5 million offering on its personal income tax credit.

In what has become an annual ritual, New York officials Tuesday touted progress in the reconstruction work at the World Trade Center site. This year, progress can be seen reaching for the sky as the steel on the signature building, 1 World Trade Center, has reached the 36th floor.

The fate of a New York law that would impose taxes on certain tobacco sales on Indian reservations won’t impact tax-exempt bonds issued to finance Seneca Nation projects, a Standard & Poor’s analyst said.

New York state and local government employers will have to increase average pension contributions to 16.3% of salaries from 11.9%, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced Thursday. He also lowered the assumed rate of return on pension fund investments to 7.5% from 8%.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has delayed for a month oral presentations in the selection of underwriters and swap counterparties, the agency confirmed Wednesday.

Public finance attorney Kenneth Lind was made partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, the firm announced Tuesday. Lind has served as bond counsel at the firm’s New York City office since leaving the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority in January 2008, where he had been acting finance director.

The developer of an Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan will seek $70 million of tax-exempt bond financing to build the new $100 million facility modeled after religiously affiliated community organizations like the YMCA or New York’s 92nd Street Y, according to a news report.

At a time when government is shrinking, the new office overseeing New York’s public authorities is looking to expand. The Authorities Budget Office, created under reform legislation last year, wants to add four new staff members in the near term as the agency writes regulations over the next six to eight months.