Washington

Ernesto Lanza, the general counsel of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, has been tapped to serve as deputy executive director, the MSRB announced Monday. Meanwhile, a former investment banker has been chosen for a newly created market leadership role.

WASHINGTON — The prospect for a federal government shutdown grew more ominous Thursday, leaving state and local groups with unanswered questions about whether federal payments will be halted if lawmakers fail to reach agreement on a fiscal 2011 budget compromise before midnight Friday.

CHICAGO — The efforts of five Wisconsin school districts to recoup their ill-fated $200 million investment in collateralized debt obligations have received reinforcement in the form of possible Securities and Exchange Commission action against an investment bank for its role in the transaction.

WASHINGTON — Erik R. Sirri, former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s trading and markets division, will oversee the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s muni market trade and pricing study, the MSRB announced Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation has received more than 90 applications from 24 states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak seeking a total of nearly $10 billion for high-speed rail projects — more than four times the $2.4 billion available from Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s cancellation of a project in his state.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s draft rule on gifts and gratuities could shut down muni advisers, the municipal market’s largest financial adviser is ­warning.

The top tax-writing lawmakers said Wednesday that while a debate about the tax-exempt status of state and local bonds will certainly be in the mix as part of a broader tax-reform debate, it is too early in the discussion to delve into specific issues.

SAN FRANCISCO — Wenatchee, Wash., finds itself on the hook for a hockey arena that didn’t pencil out the way consultants said it would.

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Tuesday moved forward with two legislative efforts to overhaul the U.S. tax code, which would either halt, or threaten, tax-exemption for new muni bonds.

WASHINGTON — Independent financial advisers are criticizing the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s draft changes to its rule on gifts and gratuities, warning they don’t go far enough to eliminate conflicts of interest.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of about $300 million of Series A special tax bonds issued by the Ernest N. Morial-New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority in 2003 to help finance a convention center expansion.

WASHINGTON — The federal debt limit must be increased by May 16 or the Treasury Department will have to take extraordinary measures, such as suspending the sale of state and local government series securities to muni issuers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Monday.

WASHINGTON — A congressional research report has underscored the high cost of tax-exempt debt to the federal government just as some members of Congress are weighing whether to propose curbs on such debt.

WASHINGTON — Architects are urging lawmakers to reinstate the Build America Bond program.

NEW YORK — The municipal securities market is beset by problems that defy easy solutions, academics and experts told municipal analysts Friday.

WASHINGTON — Market participants are questioning why Sen. Ron Wyden is drafting legislation that would create a new type of tax-credit bond for transportation projects, warning there is not much of a market for tax-credit bonds.

Municipal bond issuers and underwriters should review all documents related to their pension disclosures, even those that were not prepared with disclosure in mind, an attorney told muni market participants Friday.

WASHINGTON — Self-regulatory officials may assess fees on municipal advisers based on their advisory activity and are focused on disclosure to retail muni investors.

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service is auditing $21 million of variable-rate general obligation bonds that were issued in 2005 by the Spring Grove Area School District in Pennsylvania to finance school projects, but were redeemed in 2009.

WASHINGTON — A former municipal derivatives trading desk manager at Banc of America Securities LLC has pleaded guilty to one criminal count of engaging in a conspiracy to falsify bank records in connection with a scheme to rig bids and pay kickbacks for investment agreements and other financial contracts in the muni market.