News and Information from Bond Buyer

City Council members and a variety of civic advocates on May 18 called on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to address mounting city infrastructure needs.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and New York City Housing Authority chief Shola Olatoye announce an overhaul of the housing agency’s inventory system.

Chicago’s planned deals may not be part of this week’s supply, which was originally estimated at $9 billion, as the Windy City put the nearly $400 million of transactions on hold as yields on its debt rose.

Indianapolis is increasing its disclosure with a new web site and report that provide detailed overviews of the city’s debt and borrowing practices.

San Bernardino, Calif. is now planning to give bondholders significantly worse treatment than they have received in any municipal bankruptcy to date, Moody’s Investors Service said in a comment piece.

The House may vote Tuesday on a two-month extension of federal transportation funding that otherwise would end May 31.

Moody's Investors Service downgrades Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, Miss.'s rating to A3, affecting approximately $74 million of bonds.

Florida's Citizens Property Insurance Corp. officials say they hope two rating upgrades will help expand the investor base for this week's pricing of $1 billion of senior revenue bonds.

Three Minnesota cities disclosed this month that they can redeem Build America Bonds because their federal subsidy payments have been reduced due to sequestration.

Moody’s Investors Service sent Newark, N.J.'s general obligation unlimited bond rating to Baa3 in a two-notch downgrade that also moved the city’s limited-tax GO bonds to speculative grade.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Columbus Regional Healthcare System, Ga., bonds to BB-plus from BBB following unexpected deterioration in performance.

Connecticut Treasurer Denise Nappier announced a $145 million state-focused investment program designed to generate returns for public pension plans.

A "statistical anomaly" could be responsible for exaggerating the weakness in the first quarter gross domestic product, despite the numbers being adjusted by season, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

After three years of negotiations, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is seeking final approval to sell its 21.2% stake in the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station in Page, Ariz., to the Salt River Project.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a dealer firm and fined and suspended an individual for violations of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board rules, FINRA revealed in its monthly disciplinary report for May.

As the municipal bond market prepared for this week's $9 billion of new supply, it now appears uncertain whether the Chicago deals will come to market.

National Public Finance Guarantee, the muni-only arm of MBIA Inc. hired Andrew Nakahata who will join the company as managing director and head of National’s Western Region.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were lower, as the three-months incurred a 0.015% high rate, down from 0.020% the prior week, and the six-months incurred an 0.080% high rate, off from 0.085% the week before.

The closure of the Treasury SLGS window has added a degree of difficulty to some refunding deals.

The Treasury Department said Monday it will sell $45 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday.