News and Information from Bond Buyer

ALABAMA

Government

West Virginia’s attorney general has reached settlements totaling $1.28 million with four firms in a lawsuit that alleged they engaged in bid rigging and price fixing for municipal investments, the latest action in federal and state investigations of bid rigging in the muni market that stretch back more than ten years.

Top-rated municipal bonds ended unchanged on Wednesday, traders said, as the market saw new supply from Minnesota and Arizona issuers hit the screens only one day after the $2.69 billion California deal priced.

Debt-ridden Dowling College is shutting its doors at end of Wednesday with more than $54 million of bond debt outstanding.

Jacksonville voters agreed to keep a local half-cent sales tax for 30 years to help pay down nearly $3 billion in city pension obligations amid a lawsuit challenging Tuesday’s referendum.

Long-term municipal bond volume sky-rocketed to the highest August total in at least 30 years, as deals to raise new money surged along with refundings.

Illinois’ failure to pass a full budget for a second consecutive fiscal year is likely to widen the state’s operating fund deficit and exacerbate liquidity pressure on the state’ credit position, says Moody’s Investors Service.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers has announced the recipients of two annual awards that will be presented at its annual meeting in Chicago in October.

West Coast financial advisory firm Montague DeRose and Associates is expanding with a push toward adding midsize issuers to its roster of large issuers.

States will experiment with alternatives to the gasoline tax using funding from first round of federal grants.

Congress must allow Puerto Rico residents to vote on statehood and establish parity between the territory and states with regard to health care and tax credits to help the island’s struggling economy and address its fiscal crisis, Rep. José Serrano, D-N.Y., told a task force.

Top-rated municipal bonds were unchanged at mid-session, traders said, as the market saw new supply from Minnesota and Arizona issuers hit the screens one day after the $2.69 billion California deal priced.

President Obama formally announced the seven members of the oversight board that the PROMESA law established for Puerto Rico, drawing praise from lawmakers and market participants. But the announcement came as Puerto Ricans protesting the oversight board shut down the area around a hotel in San Juan that was hosting a conference on PROMESA.

The Florida Legislature’s incoming senate president will sponsor a $2.4 billion environmental program that would be financed with $1.2 billion of state bonds to build reservoirs that would store polluted water.

Moody's Investors Service said it has assigned a Aa1 rating to the California Department of Water Resources' $567.86 million power supply system revenue bonds, Series 2016P and upgraded to Aa1 from Aa2 the rating on DWR's approximately $4.61 billion of pre-sale parity rated power supply revenue bonds outstanding.

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual ADP July: +194,000 Aug.: +171,000 Aug.: +177,000 Chicago PMI July: 55.8 Aug.: 54.3 Aug.: 51.5 Pending Home Sales June: -0.8% July: +0.6% July: +1.3%

About 4,816,100 online job postings appeared on leading internet job boards in August, an increase of 1,900 from July, the Conference Board reported Wednesday.

Pending home sales increased 1.3% to an index reading of 111.3 in July, after a revised 0.8% decline to 109.9 in June, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors.

The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Business Barometer fell to 51.5 in August from 55.8 in July, "led by a large setback in Order Backlogs and a deceleration in New Orders," the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said Wednesday.