Texas

DALLAS - Dallas Area Rapid Transit plans a 16% increase in debt service as it continues to expand its light-rail system under the fiscal 2012 budget that begins Saturday.

DALLAS - More than 100 school districts in Texas have passed board resolutions to join a promised legal challenge seeking to reconfigure the state's system for financing public education.

Standard & Poor’s on Thursday lowered the outlook on Weslaco’s BBB-plus-rated general obligation debt to negative from stable.

DALLAS - With its debt already at a record level, the North Texas Tollway Authority waived a $3.2 billion project offered by the Texas Department of Transportation.

DALLAS - Texas Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, outlined a 10-part, 10-year plan Tuesday to build an academic hospital and medical school at the University of Texas in Austin.

Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District said it saved $16.5 million of interest costs with the first sale from its $124.5 million bond package approved by voters in May.

San Antonio Independent School District trustees voted last week to be a party in a proposed lawsuit seeking to overturn the system for allocating state funds to public school districts.

DALLAS - Laredo, Texas, an unlikely home for professional ice hockey, is expanding its role in minor-league sports with a baseball stadium financed with $11.3 million of sales-tax revenue bonds.

Texas sales tax collections totaled $1.98 billion in August, the highest monthly total in three years, Comptroller Susan Combs said last week.

Voters in the Boerne Independent School District will decide Nov. 8 on a three-part, $87.8 million general obligation bond package set for election last week by district trustees.

Trustees of San Antonio’s Harlandale Independent School District voted last week to waive attorney-client privilege so its law firm can cooperate with the Bexar County district attorney in a probe into a school bond program.

DALLAS - The Texas A&M University System is giving a lean muni market a taste of its top-rated debt Wednesday with $87.2 million of bonds backed by the Texas Permanent University Fund.

DALLAS - After achieving its lowest short-term rates ever on $9.8 billion of tax and revenue anticipation notes, Texas will see what the long-term market has to offer in a $116 million deal next week.

San Antonio’s hopes to build a streetcar line that could lead to more rail projects suffered a setback after two leaders of an advisory commission resigned recently.

Voters in San Antonio’s North East Independent School District will consider $399.4 million of general obligation bonds in November after unanimous approval of the issue by the board of trustees.

DALLAS - With its federal funding restored amid efforts to regain public trust, the Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority in Houston is preparing a $511 million deal to get its belated light-rail expansion back on track.

DALLAS — Trustees of the Harlandale Independent School District in San Antonio have launched a probe into work financed with bonds authorized by voters in 2006 and 2009 to determine if costs are appropriate.

DALLAS — An environmental lawsuit by the Sierra Club could impede bond issuance for one section of a 170-mile toll loop around the Houston area known as the Grand Parkway.

DALLAS — Despite Texas Gov. Rick Perry's claim that "government doesn't create jobs," the state capital owes its top debt rating and stable outlook in large measure to government employment, analysts said.

DALLAS - Travis County, Texas, commissioners Tuesday set a Nov. 8 election for a two-part request for $214.9 million of general obligation bonds.