Southwest

Seven months after winning voter approval of one of its largest bond proposals, Austin Community College District will offer the market $175 million of bonds supported by its fast-growing tax base.

Bexar County Texas now boasts triple-A ratings from three agencies after Standard & Poor's lifted its AA-plus rating a notch amid positive economic trends.

A plan to increase Texas school funding by $3 billion and reform the funding formula died in the state Legislature as sponsor Jimmie Don Aycock threw in the towel.

Salt River Project, one of Arizona's largest public utilities, saved about $90 million or 14% on a $924 million issue that combined $300 million of new money with refunding of outstanding debt, officials said.

After three years of negotiations, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is seeking final approval to sell its 21.2% stake in the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station in Page, Ariz., to the Salt River Project.

The closure of the Treasury SLGS window has added a degree of difficulty to some refunding deals.

A former Oklahoma lawmaker is seeking to have $2 billion of budget bills from the past three years declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

With its economy recovering, Arizona this month paid off the last of $44 million in federal loans for unemployment benefits, officials said.

Updated totals show that local voters in Texas approved $3.9 billion of the $5.4 billion of bond proposals on ballots in the state May 9.

Texas lawmakers approved a bill that would allow the state Comptroller to seek higher returns and slightly higher risks in investing most of the state's $7 billion rainy day fund.