News and Information from Bond Buyer

Standard & Poor's on May 5 revised its outlook to negative on Atlanta’s Morehouse College bonds due to declining enrollment and increasing operating pressure.

Assured Guaranty wrapped roughly $3.4 billion of municipal bonds in the first quarter, as Assured’s new issue par value was up 136% from the first quarter of last year – a number that far outpaces an overall market growth of 72%.

Arizona will not need to use its rainy day fund to balance the budget after April revenues came in much stronger than expected, officials said.

Plans to close LaMarque Independent School District near Houston have been placed on hold, prompting an update on the district’s A-minus underlying rating from Standard & Poor’s.

A transit expert says a marijuana tax, should New York State legalize it, could help MTA close its capital funding gap.

The California State Water Resources Control Board's new water conservation mandate will reduce revenues available to pay bondholders, Fitch Ratings said.

The Tennessee State School Bond Authority closed on a bond offering May 7 that saved the state $12.9 million in addition to financing construction projects at colleges and universities.

An 8.2% increase in income tax receipts kept Oklahoma revenues positive despite the continued weakness of oil and gas income.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds finished stronger, traders said, with yields on some maturities falling by as much as four basis points after the release of the April employment report.

Puerto Rico’s just released quarterly financial report was more ominous than its previous ones.

Weekly volume is estimated to come in at $8.4 billion, with the Salt River Project agricultural improvement and power district's $833 million of electric system revenue bonds leading the way. The state of Connecticut is coming with $500 million of GO bonds and the PA turnpike commission is scheduled to come with $494.56 million of turnpike revenue bonds.

Moody's Investors Service said it has upgraded Alexandria Lake Area Sanitary District, Minn.'s general obligation rating to Aa2 from Aa3.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing general obligation refunding bonds issued in 2006 by the Clark County School District in Nevada.

A Nebraska bill to give bondholders priority over other creditors in the event of a municipal bankruptcy is not likely to pass in the 2015 legislative session as different interest groups negotiate its language.

A radio ad campaign targeting congressional leaders warns that inaction on the restoring the HTF imperils state highway and transit projects.

Voters in Ohio approved a majority of levy requests for local school districts it rates, a credit positive for those districts, Moody's says.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's executive budget reflects a sound city economy, analysts said after he unveiled his proposed $78.3 billion spending plan for fiscal 2016.

Florida Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments May 7 in two appeals challenging the Florida Development Finance Corp.’s validation of $2 billion in bonds for a PACE program; one appeal says Florida’s PACE law is unconstitutional.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were higher at mid-session, according to traders, with yields on some maturities down by as much as four basis points after the release of the April employment report.