Southwest

DALLAS — The ­Harris County Houston Sports ­Authority moved closer to using insurance to cover bond payments after dipping into debt-service reserves for the first time this month.

DALLAS — Amid a flood of municipal issuance in the last six weeks of the year, the North Texas Tollway Authority will bring around $1.5 billion of debt to market, starting with nearly $500 million of tax-exempt refunding revenue bonds this week.

DALLAS — Bexar County, Tex., has earned an upgrade from Standard & Poor’s to A from A-minus on its venue project revenue bonds as it goes to market with $64 million of debt backed by tourism-related taxes.

DALLAS — Standard & Poor’s last week downgraded the Regional ­Transportation District of Colorado’s lease-revenue debt to A-minus from A-plus as it prepares to issue $310 million of certificates of participation.

DALLAS — Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe Wednesday unveiled a proposed fiscal 2012 general fund budget of $4.59 billion that is minimally higher than the current spending plan.

DALLAS — The Texas Public Finance Authority approved plans Tuesday to issue more than $2 billion of revenue bonds to repay an advance from the U.S. Treasury Department for unemployment compensation.

DALLAS — Kansas’ projected expenditures will outstrip revenues by almost $500 million in fiscal 2012 under a new financial forecast released Tuesday by the official Consensus Estimating Group.

DALLAS — Houston will take advantage of historically low interest rates with a $527 million deal divided between taxable and tax-exempt bonds that for the most part will refinance outstanding commercial paper.

The chief financial officer of the Houston Independent School District told trustees on Thursday to expect a severe reduction in state and federal funding over the next two fiscal years.

Voters in Arizona approved seven out of eight school bond proposals worth a combined $447 million as Mesa approved $84 million for a new Chicago Cubs training facility, along with $202 million for capital needs.