News and Information from Bond Buyer

The three states that rely on the Colorado River for their water supplies will not face federal rationing in 2016, a fact that is credit positive for bond issuers in the region, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

The $9 billion California school bond proposed by a coalition of educational lobbyists and the building industry has qualified for the Nov. 8, 2016 ballot.

With enrollment falling for the fourth year in a row, New Mexico State University has taken a Standard & Poor’s downgrade to AA-minus.

Texas A&M University System plans to build a 100-acre campus in the Lower Rio Grande Valley city of McAllen in direct competition with the rival University of Texas System.

Columbus-based Umbaugh has acquired Prism Municipal Advisors, a well-known Ohio financial advisory firm.

Financially stressed Graham, Texas, has seen its Standard & Poor’s rating fall out of the “A category” with the threat of further downgrades due to a negative outlook.

A positive outlook from Standard & Poor’s may lead to an investment-grade rating for the Decatur County Hospital Authority.

Oregon must spend an additional $3.6 billion over the next 20 years to keep aging state highway bridges at current conditions, Oregon DOT says.

Washington State will sell more than $900 million of bonds next week, including a negotiated retail sale of its first-ever green bonds followed by a competitive sale Sept. 30.

The trustee for the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority’s defaulted toll bridge bonds wants to sue the state if enough bondholders step forward to authorize the legal challenge.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds closed steady to slightly weaker on Monday, traders said, with yields unchanged to one basis point stronger. In the primary, market attention turned to New York City, where retail orders were taken for a second day on the Transitional Finance Authority’s $750 million offering.

After achieving net present value savings of $65 million on a $764 million refunding, the North Texas Tollway Authority is preparing for its financial close on the deal Sept. 24.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s pending fee changes will be unfair and excessively burdensome, dealer and advisor groups told the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it lowered its rating on St. Johns, Mich.'s water supply and sewage disposal system revenue bonds to A-minus from A.

After decades of financial struggles, Camden, N.J., is on the upswing under new revitalization efforts, said Camden County Freeholder Jeffrey Nash.

With its largest U.S. project recently completed in Dallas, the nation’s top builder of private toll roads is preparing to pitch Colorado on a major redevelopment of Interstate 70 in metro Denver.

Former Internal Revenue Service director Mark Scott is urging the IRS to revoke a private-letter ruling that was favorable for a total return swap, arguing that TRS’ are “[arbitrage scheme[s]” that have “resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal tax benefits being stolen.”

The Federal Open Market Committee will raise the fed funds rate target this year when “things settle down,” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Monday.

Chicago's fiscal reckoning is at hand as Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to unveil his 2016 budget on Tuesday with investors and analysts watching closely to see how he plans to solve the city's fiscal ills.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were steady at mid-session, traders said, as market attention turned to New York City, where retail orders were being taken for a second day on the Transitional Finance Authority’s $750 million offering.