News and Information from Bond Buyer

ILLINOIS

Tuesday, February 24 Issuer St Description Amount

Tuesday, February 24 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of February 23 Issuer St Description Amount

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual Existing Home Sales Dec.: 5.040M Jan.: 5.070M Jan.: 4.820M

Feb. 24, 2015 Southwest: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Arizona Aa3/AA+/NR 0.19 1.32 2.38 3.2 Arkansas Aa1/AA/NR 0.14 1.2 2.17 2.98 Colorado Aa1/AA/NR 0.15 1.25 2.26 3.1 Kansas Aa1/AA+/NR 0.14 1.25 2.25 3.06 New Mexico Aaa/AA+/NR 0.16 1.21 2.17 3.01 Oklahoma Aa2/AA+/AA+ 0.15 1.27 2.28 3.1 Texas Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.15 1.22 2.21 3.01 Utah Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.14 1.16 2.08 2.88

Government

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport remains vulnerable to service reductions after the merger of its major carrier US Airways and American Airlines, according to Standard & Poor's. Otherwise, the outlook on the airport’s AA-minus rating is stable.

A privately operated federal detention center in Raymondville, Texas, financed by $78 million of bonds suffered severe damage as inmates began rioting Feb. 20 and will be vacated, officials said.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is moving ahead with plans to seek private investment in the redevelopment of a 12-mile stretch of Interstate 70 that would be the largest project in CDOT's history.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled projects in line for funding if lawmakers approve his plan to bolster transportation spending by billions in the coming years through tax and fee hikes and borrowing.

Moody's Investors Service hit Sangamon County School District 186 with a downgrade and warned of the possibility for further deterioration in part due to pressures from the state's fiscal struggles.

Dick Locke, founder of public finance divisions at two firms and “the ultimate bond guy” in the words of one colleague, has died. He was 78.

A New Jersey state judge ruled against Gov. Chris Christie's efforts to curb pension payments just a day before he is scheduled to release his new budget proposal.

The NTSB will conduct a metallurgical examination of the electric third rail in its investigation of the Feb. 3 Metro-North Railroad accident in Valhalla, N.Y., that killed six people.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer announced three hires at the Bureau of Asset Management, which coordinates investment the city's $163 billion pension funds.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds on Monday ended flat, traders said, ahead of Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and the largest weekly supply calendar so far this year.

Assured Guaranty, the biggest municipal bond insurer by par value, is poised to rally in the stock market in part because its losses on Puerto Rico debt may turn out to be less than investors fear, according to analysts at BTIG.

Recent trends in the public pension arena "are not all gloom and doom," as most cities' pension funding ratios appear to have stabilized since the low point in 2010, Merritt Research Services said in a recent report.

Rating agency analysts and other market participants labeled Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed fiscal 2016 budget, which relies on cuts to close a big deficit, an opening shot in a long game with an uncertain outcome ahead.