Southeast

This is the second time S&P Global Ratings placed New Orleans on negative CreditWatch due to long delays in publishing audited financial statements.

Oklahoma is poised to follow in the footsteps of Texas by barring banks from municipal bond deals if deemed to be against firearms and fossil fuel industries.

The Kentucky Public Transportation Infrastructure Authority wants to sell up to $443.8 million in tax-exempt refunding bonds when market conditions improve.

Credits affected include $766 million of outstanding ad valorem tax bonds, rated AA-minus and $79 million of outstanding utilities revenue and refunding bonds, rated A.

Alex Wiggins, CEO of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, said it will be looking at a combination of bond authority and public-private partnerships to help pay for transportation infrastructure projects.

Outstanding governmental debt totals approximately $719 million and utility debt stands at roughly $200 million, according to Fitch Ratings.

The the $389.495 million of tax-exempts were sold late last month to help fund construction of the Broward County Convention Center Headquarters Hotel.

High gas prices usually have the biggest effect on leisure travel because drivers take fewer or shorter trips, Fitch Ratings says.

S&P revised the outlook on Miami Beach to stable from negative and affirmed the AA-minus rating on the city’s resort tax revenue bonds.

For a third spending cycle in a row, there was tension over funding for the Kentucky Wired public private partnership deal.