Southwest

A Texas lawmaker is seeking to ban the use of capital appreciation bonds in the state and require more disclosure about outstanding debt on bond ballots.

With nine bills in the Legislature seeking to curtail the development of turnpikes in Texas, opponents see a chance to alleviate "toll fatigue."

The Texas Transportation Commission authorized contracts for $2 billion of road and bridge projects, including $1.74 billion approved by voters Nov. 4.

Utah Sen. Kevin Van Tassel's bill to increase Utah fuel taxes by 10 cents per gallon is gathering support and clearing legislative hurdles as the Beehive State seeks to keep up with transportation needs.

The doubling of Oklahoma's revenue shortfall to $600 billion is “the latest data point in a credit-negative trend,” according to Moody's Investors Service.

The Texas State University System combined new money and refunding in a $314.8 million issue that drew attractive yields for the issuer.

Ten local governments in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale petroleum producing regions of Texas are particularly susceptible to a slump in oil prices, and Moody's Investors Service is reviewing them for downgrades.

A plan to divert up to $2.5 billion of vehicle sales tax revenue to highway projects gained momentum as a lobbying organization called Move Texas Forward joined forces with legislative leaders.

Standard & Poor's has assigned a positive outlook to Good Shepherd Medical Center’s BB-minus credit after the East Texas healthcare system restructured $88 million of debt and raised cash through asset sales.

Arkansas saw the largest drop in the percentage of uninsured in 2014, followed closely by Kentucky, according to a recent Gallup poll.