Southeast

Tennessee tax collections exceeded budgeted estimates in November — the third month this fiscal year that all tax collections have been better than estimates, with state sales taxes showing growth.

Moody's Investors Service has raised its rating on the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.'s $894 million of outstanding tax-exempt assessment revenue bonds to Baa1 from Baa2. The outlook moved to positive from stable.

Louisiana's revenues for the first five months of fiscal 2011 total $2.87 billion, down $395 million from the same period of fiscal 2010.

Significant changes to Florida's government structure and budget cuts being proposed by advisory teams assembled by incoming Republican Gov. Rick Scott are raising eyebrows.

The Alabama Medicaid Agency will receive a $55 million federal performance bonus for implementing methods to enroll low-income children in the health insurance program in fiscal 2010, Gov. Bob Riley announced Monday.

The Jefferson County Commission wants to end its investment advisory services contracts and appoint an in-house committee to do the work, according to the Birmingham News.

A firm associated with a former JPMorgan banker being pursued in a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case for alleged pay-to-play charges involving Jefferson County, Ala., was fired on Christmas Eve from a pension consulting job in Florida after Charles LeCroy's legal problems came to light.

Alabama federal Judge Keith Watkins accepted a settlement Monday ending a two-year-old lawsuit involving swaptions between the Alabama Public School and College Authority and JPMorgan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Lewis Diaz, a bond attorney with Peck, Shaffer & Williams LLP, has been appointed to a three-year term on the finance and administration committee of the Northern Kentucky Area Development District.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Wednesday announced a $25 million settlement with JPMorgan to resolve allegations that the investment bank improperly sold unregistered securities to the local government investment pool.