News and Information from Bond Buyer

San Diego officials rolled out a reform program aimed at speeding up plans to repair 1,000 miles of city streets in five years.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has recommended a combined $102.7 billion state budget for fiscal 2016 and 2017, along with up to $2.8 billion in bond financing.

The roots of Joplin, Mo. School District’s current fiscal struggles lie in the district’s post-2011 tornado recovery, according to a new state audit that took the district to task for using the same firm as advisor and underwriter on its borrowings.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded Miami's general obligation bond ratings to A1 from A2 because of an improving economy and the city's strengthened financial position.

The Internal Revenue Service has advised several community development districts in Florida that they may not be political subdivisions that can issue tax-exempt bonds if they do not have public electors within five years of their bonds' issuance, a bond lawyer said.

The recent default by an Indiana school district reveals how a state intercept enhancement program does not necessarily reduce the chance of default, Moody's says in a new comment.

An airline group asks Congress to oppose a proposal by airports for a 90% boost in a federal passenger fee that funds capital projects.

A New Jersey solar energy project that was envisioned as a national model for public-private partnerships has been clouded with legal woes, but recent settlements could bring it back into the sunlight.

Weekly municipal volume is set to increase to a three-month high, led by bond sales from the University of California and New York City.

A Pennsylvania law requiring better tax-collection procedures has boosted income-tax receipts for most municipalities and school districts, said Moody's.

Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley & Co. has hired longtime Chicago public finance banker Doug DeAngelis from Fifth Third Securities to act as national public finance director and re-open its Chicago public finance office.

The Connecticut Retirement Security Board picked Boston College's Center for Retirement Research and Mercer Oliver Wyman to explore a public retirement plan for private-sector employees.

University Hospitals, one of northeast Ohio's largest providers, is in talks to acquire stand-alone hospital Samaritan Regional Health.

Bondholders have authorized an $8 million increase in debt for a Glendale, Ariz., project designed to convert trash into energy. A dispute with the city has stymied the operation, leading to a five-notch downgrade from Standard & Poor's.

The Internal Revenue Service's much-criticized memorandum on the defeasance of Build America Bonds is the product of the fact that BABs were a short-term program, an official with the Internal Revenue Service chief counsel's office said Thursday.

Many bond lawyers feel that with all municipal rating agencies soon to be beaming live ratings to EMMA, the Securities and Exchange Commission should amend its rules so that issuers no longer have to worry about filing notices of upgrades and downgrades.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its rating on Florida Governmental Utility Authority's utility revenue debt, issued for Golden Gate Utility System, one notch to A-plus from A.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds plunged at midday, traders said, after the release of a strong employment report that many see as giving a green light to a mid-year interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Yields were up by as much as eight basis points on some top-shelf munis.

The Chicago Park District's tight governance link to Chicago is taking a toll on the district's credit rating hit with a Moody's downgrade this week.