Southeast

Assured Guaranty last week filed a civil suit in New York alleging that JPMorgan, along with Jefferson County, "fraudulently induced" it to provide more than $378 million in insurance coverage for the county's nearly $3.2 billion of variable- and auction-rate sewer warrants.

Former Jefferson County commissioner Larry Langford has lost another bid to remain free while appealing his corruption conviction on pay-to-play charges related to the county's failed sewer warrants.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Fitch Ratings on Friday maintained a negative outlook on Collier County, Fla.’s sales and gas tax bonds in part because of “the potential impact of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.”

DALLAS — Louisiana lawmakers sent a $26 billion operating budget to Gov. Bobby Jindal on Sunday night after the House reluctantly agreed to the Senate’s version of the fiscal 2011 spending plan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Homebuyers either are shying away from buying homes on the beach or requiring a 60-day guarantee that the oil will not affect the beach before signing real estate contracts, a Naples, Fla., Realtor claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The Virginia Public School Authority on Wednesday expects to competitively sell $73.2 million of direct-pay, qualified school construction bonds, using them for the first time under the new federal subsidy interest-rate option designed to open the securities to a larger pool of buyers.

DALLAS — Louisiana will transfer at least $500 million into the general fund from its capital outlay escrow fund to pay its bills for fiscal 2010, which ends June 30.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Standard & Poor’s Wednesday dropped Miami’s general obligation bond rating to A-minus from A-plus. The agency also downgraded debt backed by the city’s covenant to budget and appropriate to BBB-plus from A.

DALLAS — The Louisiana State Bond Commission on Thursday selected an underwriting team for the planned sale of $500 million of fuel tax revenue bonds to finance a constitutionally mandated road and bridge construction program.

DALLAS — Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy yesterday said he supports the $20 billion oil-spill escrow plan announced by President Obama and BP executives to handle claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.