Pennsylvania

A Feb. 19 decision by Pennsylvania's School Reform Commission to only approve five out of 39 charter school applications in Philadelphia is a credit positive for the city's struggling district, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Standard & Poor's raised its rating on Allentown, Pa.'s GO debt three notches to A-plus from BBB-plus, citing flexibility from its water and sewer deal.

Former Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord pleaded guilty in a Harrisburg courtroom to two federal counts of attempted extortion.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter has received Association of Government Accountants 2015 Excellence in Government Leadership award.

Gov. Tom Wolf proposed a severance tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction to fund Pennsylvania's teetering public education system.

An issuer in Virginia recently disclosed an Internal Revenue Service audit of bonds it issued in 2006, and a borrower in Indiana and an issuer in Pennsylvania disclosed that the IRS has closed audits of their bonds.

Having sold its incinerator, Harrisburg, Pa., has a new symbol of a deal gone sour: a 12-story downtown office building, subject of a $6.9 million borrowing in 1998 that straddled the city with $42 million in debt service the city recently restructured.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf established what he called a transformation office with an eye toward whittling the state's $2.3 billion deficit for fiscal 2016.

As if bond rating downgrades, a $50 billion unfunded pension liability and teetering school districts weren’t enough, Pennsylvania must wrestle with more political scandal as its treasurer resigns to plead guilty after a federal investigation.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord resigned late Friday, effective immediately, as news reports swirled that he will plead guilty to charges of threatening would-be campaign contributors with the loss of state business.

Harrisburg, Pa., Mayor Eric Papenfuse on Friday signed off on a restructuring agreement for bonds tied to the city's Verizon Center building despite his objections, and called for an investigation into the original 1998 bond deal.

The calendar and a stronger sense of storm preparedness will help soften the blow of this winter's first major Northeast blizzard, capital markets observers said Tuesday.

Lower natural gas prices are a credit negative for local governments in gas-rich areas of Pennsylvania because the will pressure impact fees, said Moody's.

The biggest competitive municipal bond sale on this week’s calendar – the $1 billion general obligation sale from Pennsylvania, which was scheduled to go up for bidding at 11 a.m., EST, tomorrow -- has been re-scheduled because of the snow storm in the Northeastern U.S.

Pennsylvania's stressed public school districts are devising novel approaches for combating competition from charter schools, according to Moody's.

PFM Asset Management Group (PFMAM) has added a new managing consultant to help expand the firm's multi-asset class management business on the east coast.

Issuance could total $325 billion to $375 billion in 2015, Janney bond analyst Tom Kozlik told a Philadelphia investor group.

Tom Wolf will inherit a host of economic problems, sliding credit ratings and a thorny political situation when the Democrat takes office Tuesday as Pennsylvania's 47th governor.

Gov. Tom Corbett announced the investment of $53.4 million in nine drinking water and wastewater projects across six Pennsylvania counties through Pennvest.

Pennsylvania DOT has finalized all terms for the department's $899 million Rapid Bridge Replacement Project, Secretary Barry Schoch confirmed.