Southwest

Despite a series of high-profile defaults that left Texas counties in possession of abandoned jails, local governments continue to issue debt for privately operated lockups.

In the first quarter of the Kansas fiscal year ended Sept. 30, revenues of $1.35 billion were $42.5 million or about 3% below projections, according to state Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan.

Bondholders would get 40 cents on the dollar for $23 million of bonds outstanding for a detention facility in South Texas that defaulted on its debt, according to a notice on the Municipals Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA Web site.

Arizona will have about a third of the money it needs to maintain roads and bridges over the next 25 years, according to the state auditor.

A bond investor’s suspicions triggered a municipal bond trustee’s firing of a vice president but the question remains: what happened to more than $2 million?

The Texas Transportation Commission decided tolls are not needed to fund a proposed $530 million highway project.

The Texas Public Finance Authority expects its triple-A credit to attract institutional and retail investors to an upcoming $445 million issue of taxable general obligation bonds for cancer research and prevention.

The University of North Texas System will reduce the size of its $222 million deal by $45 million after a private placement offer provided better terms, officials said.

The IAH Public Facility Corp. has reached a proposed settlement with the Internal Revenue Service to resolve a tax-law dispute relating to about $49 million of bonds it issued in 2004 and 2006 to finance a jail in Polk County, Texas.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tells road planners to look at projects that eliminate bottlenecks and reduce traffic congestion.