Northeast

WASHINGTON — Southwest Securities Inc. has agreed to pay $470,147 to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating an anti-pay-to-play rule by co-underwriting Massachusetts bond deals within two years after its former senior vice president made political contributions to state Treasurer Timothy Cahill.

New York’s cash strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a package of service cuts at its board meeting yesterday to help close a $800 million current year deficit.

Practices that increased participation by minority- and women-owned underwriting firms in state-backed bond deals should made law, New York Gov. ­­David ­Paterson said yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Anne Arundel ­County, Md., today expects to competitively price $185.7 million of general obligation bonds, including its first Build America Bonds, as it faces negative credit pressures stemming from the housing market.

New York City’s budget director Tuesday ordered agency heads to find spending reductions totalling $1.3 billion in anticipation of budget cuts from the state government in Albany.

Pennsylvania-based ACTS Retirement-Life Communities Inc., the largest nonprofit continuing care retirement community provider in the U.S., will affiliate with two smaller East Coast senior-living centers, a move that may boost debt-service coverage for one.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority goes to market today with a smaller revenue anticipation note deal than last year, reflecting lower revenue than original expected from a bailout package.

New York’s rate of borrowing is unsustainable, according to a report released by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli Friday.

WASHINGTON — A new public power utility may be created in New York for the first time in over 10 years if a measure introduced in the state Legislature is approved. It would serve the far upstate counties of St. Lawrence and Franklin, and kick off with an initial bond deal of around $90 million.

As the trickle of taxable Build America Bonds coming to market turned into a flood last year, issuers’ underwriting-designation policies followed the course charted by the corporate market. In recent months, signs have emerged that the tide is turning and there is no agreement on whether or not that’s a good thing.