Southeast

Gov. Bobby Jindal said in an address to the Monroe Chamber of Commerce last week that Louisiana’s economy would continue to outpace the region and the nation thanks to strong fiscal discipline.

New Orleans Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu said he would seek an extension of the Gulf Opportunity Zone bond program when he meets with Obama administration officials and congressional leaders this week in Washington.

In a special report Monday, Fitch Ratings said negative rating actions against Florida credits last year outpaced positive actions by three-to-one, but the agency expects ratings to stabilize in 2010.

Palm Beach County commissioners Tuesday selected Ruden McClosky Smith Schuster & Russell PA to be bond counsel and to perform related legal services related to the development of a planned convention center hotel.

A long-planned project to expand the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex with a domed stadium may be slowed once again because of the recession.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Former Montgomery, Ala., bond dealer William Blount and lobbyist Albert LaPierre are scheduled to be sentenced Friday in Alabama federal court after pleading guilty to pay-to-play charges related to Jefferson ­County’s troubled sewer debt.

BRADENTON, Fla. — On the heels of an upgrade for its Garvees, Kentucky tomorrow plans to sell $90 million of the debt for work related to its share of the massive $4.1 billion Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

Louisiana will refund up to $240 million of outstanding general obligation debt under a proposal approved Thursday by the State Bond Commission.

After receiving a federal loan commitment Tuesday, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia yesterday announced it would soon sell $2.53 billion of municipal bonds for the project. The U.S. Department of Energy said MEAG would receive approximately $1.8 billion in loan guarantees toward construction of its share of two new nuclear units being planned at Plant Vogtle in Georgia.

Miami-Dade County expects to be in the market early next week for a two-day pricing of $600 million of water and sewer bonds — the first round of large yearly debt sales for a newly revised $4.2 billion capital improvement program.