Southeast

The Louisiana State Bond Commission gave final approval Nov. 15 to a negotiated sale of $350 million of highway improvement bonds to be sold in early January.

Jacksonville, Fla., prices $245 million of refunding bonds on Thursday in search of big savings from low interest rates that provide opportunities for budgetary relief and portfolio restructuring.

The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board must be reformed before rates are raised to support $1 billion of revenue debt needed for system renewal, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Monday.

West Virginia voters kept Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democrat, in office to serve a full four-year term.

North Carolina Gov.-elect Pat McCrory is calling for a 25-year transportation and infrastructure plan after leading a GOP sweep of the governorship and the Legislature.

The Miami-Dade County Commission last week made an exception in procurement regulations and added Drexel Hamilton LLC to the county’s qualified pool of underwriters.

Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. filed a motion seeking relief in Jefferson County, Ala.’s bankruptcy case saying the county proposed minimal sewer rate increases that may not support the outstanding $3.1 billion of debt.

Standard & Poor’s upgraded to AA from BBB bonds of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority, Ala. after it determined there would be no impact from Jefferson County’s bankruptcy filing.

Ascension Parish, La. voters handily defeated a proposal to increase the local sales tax to support a bond-funded plan to upgrade roads.

Election results are being challenged in Richland County, S.C., where voters apparently approved a $450 million bond authorization.