Southwest

DALLAS — Voters across Oklahoma went to the polls on Tuesday to support more than $470 million of school bonds requested by local districts. All five bond proposals on the ballot obtained the 60% majority needed to pass school bonds.

DALLAS — A $354 million general obligation bond issue outlined for trustees of the Tulsa County Independent School District No. 1 on Monday night would continue efforts contained in a 20-year capital improvement program adopted in 1995.

DALLAS — Austin may be moving toward a $600 million bond election as the City Council considers ways to build a light-rail system.

DALLAS — As the debut year for Build America Bonds nears its close, Denver Public Schools is joining other large issuers in the market this week with $225 million of the taxable debt, along with $24 million of tax-exempt refunding bonds.

DALLAS — Three large and growing school districts in Texas made significant leaps into the double-A leagues last week with Standard & Poor’s upgrades.

DALLAS — Arizona has used an entire $700 million line of credit advanced two weeks ago by Bank of America, forcing the state to borrow $73 million from itself to make a scheduled payment of aid to local school districts.

DALLAS — Two university systems based in Denton, Tex., will use more than $180 million of bond proceeds for new facilities, including a satellite campus in Dallas 35 miles to the south.

DALLAS — Oklahoma County Independent School District No. 1 will exhaust a 2007 authorization and sell the first bonds from a successful November election with today’s competitive sale of $15.5 million of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — New economic reality may alter the current financial plan for the Denver area’s $6.2 billion FasTracks transportation project, a consultant’s report suggests.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., currently ranked 15th senior manager in the country, according to Thomson Reuters, announced Monday that veteran banker Alan W. Murphy has joined the firm to oversee its competitive underwriting efforts.