News and Information from Bond Buyer

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will seek Securities and Exchange Commission approval of its proposal to extend its pay-to-play rule to include municipal advisors as well as changes to post-trade disclosure requirements.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it lowered its long-term and underlying rating to BB-minus from BB-plus on Good Shepherd Medical Center, Texas' existing debt, issued by various entities.

More than $10 billion of water and transportation infrastructure proposals are on Tuesday's state and local ballots.

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority intends to sell about $375 million of second resolution, fixed-rate tax-exempt refunding and new money bonds on Nov. 13 after a one-day retail period.

Spokane, Wash.'s airport has been downgraded to A2 from A2 by Moody's Investors Service.

Chicago’s practice of pushing off debt service for cash flow relief and pressures from a looming $550 million spike in public safety pension payments undercut the city’s advances in structurally balancing its budget, the Civic Federation of Chicago wrote.

Trading on bonds from the $211.3 million Anchorage, Alaska, general obligation deal priced last week spiked on Monday morning in the secondary, as the secondary weakened overall.

The costs of QE3 will exceed the program's benefits, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President and CEO Richard W. Fisher said Monday.

Despite the recent numbers, municipal experts said demand continues to be heavy for municipal bonds – both for direct ownership and through mutual funds.

With the economy riding high, issuers in Texas are hoping voters keep their pocketbooks open long enough to approve more than $6.5 billion of bond issues on the ballot Nov. 4.

While Puerto Rico faces fiscal problems that are similar to those of 1970s New York, it's important to note the differences between the two economies as the island commonwealth seeks a solution.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were mixed, as the three-months incurred a 0.020% high rate, unchanged from 0.020% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.060% high rate, up from 0.055% the week before.

The Treasury Department said Monday it will sell $36 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday.

Puerto Rico officials said Thursday that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority would default on its bonds but that the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority would not.

For Fitch's lowest rated states, California, Illinois and New Jersey, management decisions over the near term will be key to credit quality, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

The overall economy grew for the sixty-fifth straight time, while the manufacturing sector expanded for the seventeenth consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday.

Construction spending declined 0.4% in September, the Commerce Department said Monday, and is 2.9% above the September 2013 level.

The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority plans a $97.5 million housing mortgage financing that includes a $57 million bond sale and two private placements.

In the last report before the Nov. 4 election, Kansas reported that revenues for October fell $23 million below expectations.