Southeast

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.

BRADENTON, Fla. — In its first municipal bond deal in two years, the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corp. today will price $225 million of revenue bonds to take out a portion of its auction-rate securities.

BRADENTON, Fla. — After a more than two-year search, Jefferson County, Ala., has hired its first chief financial ­officer.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Georgia Department of Transportation Monday announced the appointment of Sandra Burgess as the new director of its public-private partnership program.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority in central Florida today hopes to begin retail pricing of a two-pronged transaction — including up to $250 million of fixed-rate refunding revenue bonds and a restructuring of $250 million of variable-rate bonds with the termination of associated swaps.

DALLAS — State economists told the Revenue Estimating Conference on Friday that Louisiana’s budget deficit for fiscal 2010 has ballooned by another $261.4 million from April’s revised lower estimate.