Washington

FirstSouthwest is protesting against "restrictive" conditions included in a request for quotations issued by the Greater Texoma Utility Authority in Texas, which said it will only consider proposals from a financial advisor that is independent from a broker-dealer.

Maryland Transportation Authority will generate less than $10 million a year in toll revenue from express lanes on a $1.1 billion highway improvement project.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $49.04 million of revenue bonds issued by IAH Public Facility Corp. in Polk County, Texas, in 2004 and 2006 for an adult detention facility.

Municipal market groups often at odds with one another are for once in agreement, with each telling the Internal Revenue Service that its proposed issue price rules are unworkable and would hurt issuers as well as the market.

Dan Heimowitz first got into public finance because of a devastating financial crisis in his hometown. Decades later, he's overseeing rulemaking covering a whole new class of regulated firms and individuals.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined five firms and three individuals for violations of municipal securities requirements, including Barclays Capital Inc., which was directed to pay $200,000 for using bond proceeds to reimburse itself for membership in a lobbying group.

Additional guidance from the SEC should provide some clarity to how the proposed trading restrictions under its new municipal advisor registration rule apply to municipal issuers, a securities industry official said.

Gonzaga University is planning to sell $53 million of revenue bonds to fund construction costs for a new building to replace its antiquated student center.

Washington State Treasurer James McIntire is urging the Internal Revenue Service not to adopt its proposed issue price rules, warning they would increase issuers' borrowing costs.

It is not time to panic despite the struggle of Detroit bondholders to regain their money, representatives of the four largest bond rating agencies told state treasurers Thursday.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $23.83 million of Series 2007 variable rate demand bonds issued by the Colorado Health Facilities Authority.

The Senate Finance Committee's top Republican said Wednesday that the bankruptcy judge's ruling Tuesday that Detroit's public pension funds could be subject to cuts is a wakeup call for Congress to consider his pension bill.

Moody's Investors Service raised its outlook on the toll road industry to stable from negative as toll revenues continue a slow but steady recovery.

For the first time in five years, Moody's Investors Service has revised its outlook for U.S. local governments to stable from negative, as housing markets continue to stabilize, municipalities' fund balances remain healthy and cities and school districts control their costs.

Twenty of the 52 initiatives outlined in the District of Columbia's five-year economic development strategy have been completed during the first year of its implementation, though bond and infrastructure-bank initiatives have yet to be completed, district officials announced Tuesday.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., will introduce a bill phasing in a 15 cent increase in the federal gasoline tax, currently at 18.4 cents per gallon.

Standard & Poor's has upgraded the Washington cities of Kent and Centralia to AA-minus ratings from A-plus.

A House committee chairman made clear at a hearing on Monday that it may take Congress years to determine whether to amend a nearly 100-year-old law to allow the District of Columbia to raise the heights of some buildings to accommodate increased growth and obtain more tax revenue.

The merger of American Airlines and US Airways Group can proceed as scheduled after a federal bankruptcy judge's clearance of the airlines' federal anti-trust settlement.