News and Information from Bond Buyer

Government

New Jersey’s Stockton University held a special meeting to discuss offers it has received for the former Showboat Casino Hotel property in Atlantic City.

Standard & Poor's has upgraded Salinas, Calif.'s sanitary sewer system revenue bonds to AA-minus from A-plus.

The Tri-county Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon will sell $133.6 million of triple-A rated payroll tax bonds Sept. 9.

Nearly half of tax-exempt interest reported on 2013 individual income tax returns was on returns with adjusted gross income of less than $200,000, and most of the returns reporting tax-exempt interest had a primary taxpayer over the age of 65, calculations based on recently released Internal Revenue Service statistics show.

The budget stalemate in Illinois matters less than how the state finally decides to deal with its pension problem, Moody’s says in a new report.

Municipal bond volume increased for the second month in a row and the seventh out of eight months this year, as both new money issuance and refunding volume rose 20.8% for the month of August.

Prices of top-shelf municipal bonds finished steady on Monday, traders said, with yields on most maturities closing unchanged. In the primary, muni traders were preparing to take on a paltry new issue slate totaling about $3.3 billion.

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California plans to appeal an adverse ruling on claims it overcharged the San Diego Water County Water Authority.

Expectations of nearly $1 billion in new revenue for rebounding Michigan would not be enough to offset shortfalls if the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder enact a plan to rely on the general fund to finance road repairs, warns a new report.

Hillview, Ky.'s bankruptcy filing offers more evidence that municipalities increasingly consider filing for reorganization as a way to cure balance-sheet problems, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Texas voters will consider more than $8.7 billion of local bond proposals Nov. 3 while weighing another $2.5 billion for transportation funding statewide, according to final tally of ballot items.

Latest in a series of annual polls on transportation funding finds public will accept increase of gasoline tax if revenue dedicated to road work.

James Albino stepped down as executive director of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico Friday to take a deputy assistant secretary position with the Department of Veterans Affairs, an administration spokesperson confirmed.

Kenneth D. Gibbs, president of the municipal securities group at Jefferies LLC, plans to leave the firm at the end of the year and take over leadership of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.

Already outpacing all other issuers in the Southwest this year, the Texas Transportation Commission is going to market with $1 billion of triple-A-rated bonds.

The Treasury Department Tuesday sold $25 billion 14-day cash management bills, dated Sept. 1, due Sept. 15, at a 0.075% high tender rate.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it has raised its ratings on Orlando, Fla.'s series 2008A (first-lien) tourist development tax (TDT) revenue bonds to BBB from BB, series 2008B TDT (second-lien) bonds to BBB-minus from CCC, and 2008C TDT (third-lien) bonds to CCC-plus from CC.

Prices of top-shelf municipal bonds were steady to stronger at mid-session, according to traders, with yields on most maturities unchanged to one basis point weaker.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were higher, as the three-months incurred a 0.095% high rate, up from 0.050% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.270% high rate, up from 0.200% the week before.