News and Information from Bond Buyer

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service raised its long-term rating to AA from AA-minus on the Washington Economic Development Finance Authority's series 2011 wastewater revenue and refunding bonds.

The big Kentucky issue came to market on Wednesday even as much of the municipal bond market was still digging out and getting back to normal after an East Coast snowstorm curtailed trading activity on Monday and Tuesday. Prices of high-quality municipal bonds were stronger along with Treasuries, traders said, after the Federal Open Market Committee kept rates unchanged.

Boston-based Nixon Peabody LLP and Chicago-based Ungaretti & Harris LLP will merge on Feb. 1, a pairing that lands Nixon a seasoned public finance team in Chicago while broadening Ungaretti's reach nationally.

The trustee for the Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority's defaulted bonds wants a toll increase for the Garcon Point Bridge but north Florida residents are opposing the plan.

The nation's second-largest health care provider, Trinity Health, is bringing $1.4 billion to market next week in a deal that will in part raise money for a $4.5 billion capital plan.

Doral Financial in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said that the FDIC has placed its bank under a prompt corrective action directive, an enforcement order that is often considered one of the last public warnings before regulators move to place the bank into conservatorship.

Fitch Ratings said it has downgraded the $107.5 million Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority health system revenue bonds, series 2009A, issued on behalf of Einstein Healthcare Network (EHN) to BBB from BBB-plus.

President Obama plans to propose a revised version of last year's $302 billion, 4-year transportation bill.

The calendar and a stronger sense of storm preparedness will help soften the blow of this winter's first major Northeast blizzard, capital markets observers said Tuesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee held steady at its latest meeting, still preaching patience and calling "risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market" nearly balanced.

Two former Allen Park, Mich. officials have settled a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against them by agreeing to be barred from involvement in any future municipal bond offerings, and ex-Mayor Gary Burtka agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Standard & Poor's dropped Atlantic City, N.J. to a junk-bond rating with a four-notch downgrade and placed the rating on credit watch with negative implications.

The Treasury Department Wednesday auctioned $26 billion of two-year notes with a 1/2% coupon at a 0.540% yield, a price of 99.920748.

A federal judge ordered the former comptroller of a Harvey, Ill., to pay more than $200,000 in fines and barred him from participation in any future municipal issues for his role in misleading investors on several of the south Chicago suburb's past bond offerings.

Reps. John Duncan, R-Tenn., and Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., have once again sponsored legislation to exempt water and sewer private-activity bonds from state volume caps.

The big Kentucky issue came to market on Wednesday even as much of the municipal bond market was getting back to normal after an East Coast snowstorm curtailed activity on Monday and Tuesday.

The Treasury Department Wednesday auctioned $15 billion of two-year floating rate notes with a high discount margin of 0.084%, at a 0.084% spread, a price of par.

The municipal bond market is preparing Wednesday to take on the deals that are still left on the calendar after a snowstorm knocked about $1.7 billion of bonds off this week's new issue slate.

State and local governments of all sizes are using direct bank loans as an alternative to traditional bond financing, Standard & Poor's said Wednesday, renewing its call for more transparency surrounding bank debt.

Jan. 28, 2015 Midwest: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Illinois A3/A+/A+ 0.54 2 3.21 3.99 Indiana Aaa/AAA/AA+ 0.14 1.06 1.93 2.71 Iowa Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.14 1.07 1.93 2.71 Michigan Aa2/AA/AA 0.17 1.23 2.1 2.89 Minnesota Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.14 1.02 1.86 2.6 Missouri Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.14 1.01 1.84 2.62 Nebraska NR/AAA/NR 0.14 1.08 1.98 2.79 North Dakota Aa1/AA+/NR 0.15 1.1 2 2.79 Ohio Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.15 1.08 1.97 2.77 South Dakota NR/AA+/AA+ 0.15 1.1 2.01 2.81 Wisconsin Aa2/AA/AA 0.16 1.07 2.01 2.79