News and Information from Bond Buyer

CONNECTICUT

Robert Fippinger, senior counsel at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board director since 2010, plans to join the MSRB as its chief legal officer on March 3, the board announced. Michael Post has been promoted to general counsel for regulatory affairs.

Standard & Poor's raised its rating on Allentown, Pa.'s GO debt three notches to A-plus from BBB-plus, citing flexibility from its water and sewer deal.

Government

Voters gave three Tulsa, Okla., area school districts authority to issue $487 million of bonds for school construction, including $340 million for the Broken Arrow district.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds bounced back Wednesday afternoon along with Treasuries, traders said, with yields on some maturities as much as four basis points lower for the day.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner unveiled a fiscal 2016 budget that would cut spending across state government to close an estimated $6 billion gap without tax increases.

Connecticut governor proposes 30-year, $100 billion transportation program to modernize state's highway and transit infrastructure.

Enhanced capability on the Checkbook NYC website now enables the public to view real-time contract and spending details for contracts with minority and women-owned business enterprises, said Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Hawaii Governor David Ige nominated Brigadier General Joseph Kim, as deputy director of the state's department of taxation.

A bill that reduces Arizona's income tax revenue by $15.4 million in the next fiscal year won state Senate approval despite the state's anticipated $1 billion budget deficit.

The continued weakness in core inflation concerned "several" Federal Open Market Committee members, while "a few" suggested it may take longer to get to 2% inflation than the panel anticipated, according to minutes of the January Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti named city officials to a task force charged with creating a development strategy for the city's waterfront.

Kern County, Calif., is likely to withstand the revenue hit from the drop in oil prices, but smaller Kern County credits may not fare as well, according to Gurtin Fixed Income Management LLC.

Nixon Peabody LLP named Barry Rothchild a public finance partner in New York.

With hospital issuance up so far in 2015 and likely to stay that way, investors may not be sufficiently compensated for the sector's risks, according to Municipal Market Advisors.

As taxable fixed-income rates remain near all-time lows, Kentucky is one of several states eyeing pension obligation bonds to deal with unfunded retirement obligations.

Municipal advisors remain concerned about one of the key provisions of the Securities and Exchange Commission's municipal advisor registration rule, although communications between issuers and underwriters remain robust nearly eight months after the final effectiveness of the rule.

Muni yields were unchanged from Tuesday at midday, according to traders, as yields on some maturities were up as much as 5 basis points from Friday.

The Treasury Department Wednesday auctioned $40 billion of four-week bills at a 0.010% high yield, a price of 99.999222.