Southwest

DALLAS — Starved for revenue to fund critical city services, Phoenix is looking at which programs to preserve when a controversial tax on food goes into effect April 1.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Tex., has introduced legislation that would authorize the use of Build America Bonds for the purchase or construction of land, buildings or other facilities located near a convention center.

DALLAS — The Kansas Development Finance Authority will go to market today with the first sale from a $105 million state authorization that will partially finance a federally operated biohazard research facility, as Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on the state to negative from stable.

DALLAS — Tulsa County Independent School District No. 3 will begin 10 years of scheduled sales with a $19 million general obligation issue set for competitive sale on Feb. 16.

DALLAS — JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay Texas $3.2 million for failing to warn customers about the risks of auction-rate securities, among the largest fines since the ARS market collapsed in early 2008.

AUSTIN — The $1.3 billion effort to replace Dallas County’s public hospital was able to get off the ground with the use of Build America Bonds, which reduced the debt service burden on county taxpayers.

AUSTIN — Not yet a year after Build America Bonds began to lift municipal debt issuance to its second-highest volume on record, issuers and brokers are finding that they must commit more time to educating potential investors who make up an increasingly diverse base of buyers, experts told The Bond Buyer’s Texas Public Finance Conference yesterday.

DALLAS — With a statewide moratorium on new private toll projects still in place after more than two years, the Texas Transportation Commission is planning a bypass around that financial barrier to leverage existing funds.

DALLAS — The Texas Department of Transportation expects to go to market this spring after gaining approval to issue up to $3 billion of general obligation bonds.

DALLAS — A court case that threatens plans for the first nuclear power project in more than three decades headed for trial after a Texas district judge in San Antonio ruled that the lawsuit by the city’s CPS Energy utility could go forward.