Texas

Austin (Texas) Independent School District trustees agreed a facilities master plan to win support for May's $892.2 million bond referendum.

El Paso City Hall will be imploded April 14 to clear way for a downtown baseball stadium.

A $2 billion bond program for water projects in drought-stricken Texas won nearly unanimous approval in the state House of Representatives with strong support expected in the Senate.

Moody's Investors Service is considering a downgrade on $1.1 billion of P3 turnpike debt in Texas to non-investment grade.

Brownsville, Tex., will refund $114.5 million of revenue bonds as it lays the groundwork for a pipeline system connecting the city to a proposed investor-owned power plant.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is expected to become one of the nation's most indebted airports with $737 million of revenue bonds for its terminal remodeling project, helping prompt a Moody's downgrade.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's revenue bonds to A2 from A1 ahead of nearly $800 million of bonds expected to be issued in April.

Texas lawmakers are considering two bills that would ban capital appreciation bonds with the aim of reducing the risk of deferred interest costs for local governments, particularly school districts in fast-growing areas of the state.

Texas will exhaust the $17.5 million balance from $25 million of state bonds meant for long-term repairs to its Battleship Texas exhibit simply to keep the 100-year-old vessel from sinking into the mud.

A $2 billion bond plan to finance water projects in Texas has won passage from a key legislative committee.

The Texas Senate is expected to begin debating a $94.1 billion budget Monday after the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved a 7.7% spending increase over two years.

Fitch Ratings' recent downgrade of 23 charter schools, including the KIPP Academy in Houston, comes as the Texas Legislature to ease funding pressures for the schools.

Sales tax collections in February beat the take in February 2012 but at a reduced rate, Comptroller Susan Combs said.

Amarillo ISD will spend $13,000 on a communications plan to explain the school district's $99.5 million bond referendum going to voters May 11.

A 13-city tax district in North Texas for a $2.7 billion commuter rail line remains a possibility after State Sen. John Carona filed a bill to authorize its creation.

Chances for state bill authorizing the $2.7 billion Cotton Belt commuter rail project dimmed after the Fort Worth City Council opposed the plan.

The Texas Senate Finance Committee voted to close a 2,100-bed, for-profit prison in Mineral Wells, citing a surplus of cells in a declining incarceration market.

Design features of the new bond-financed baseball stadium in downtown El Paso, Texas, will pay homage to the city's copper mining and railroad history.

In an ambitious effort to counteract the region's worsening drought, Texas' Lower Colorado River Authority is taking the first steps toward building its first new reservoir in 40 years.

El Paso County gave preliminary approval for $162 million of certificates of obligation for new primary health clinics.