News and Information from Bond Buyer

Government

Municipal bond mutual funds recorded outflows for the 26th straight week, at $770 million, numbers from Lipper FMI showed.

The weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, decreased three basis points this week, to 5.08% for the week ending Nov. 21, 2013, but it remains above its 5.07% average from two weeks ago.

Two years after filing what was then the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country, Jefferson County, Ala., Thursday won approval of its plan to emerge from Chapter 9.

Only a few states improved the funded status of their pension plans in fiscal 2012, Loop Capital Markets said in its 11th annual public pension funding report, released Thursday.

New York City closed its $2 billion budget gap, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday afternoon in releasing his final quarterly budget.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers may consider creating guidance on how attorneys can reasonably rely on tax certificates, following the false certifications market professionals provided for deals involving investment contracts that came to light in criminal bid-rigging cases.

The municipal bond market ended weaker for a second straight session Thursday as lower-rated credits took the brunt of the selloff, playing catch-up to the Treasury selloff after the release of the FOMC meeting minutes.

A Los Angeles County joint powers authority will refund up to $200 million in redevelopment agency tax allocation revenue bonds as conduit issuer for seven successor agencies.

A municipal restructuring executive who played a key role in DC's oversight board in the 1990s is Detroit's new CFO.

Two Illinois health systems – Cadence Health and Rockford Health System – announced their plans this week to merge, the latest in a long list of healthcare unions in the state in recent years.

A coalition of local leaders is asking Congress to generate an additional $30 billion a year for transportation efforts by almost doubling the federal gasoline tax.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its underlying rating to AA-minus from A-plus on Bear Valley Community Services District, Calif.'s unlimited-tax general obligation bonds.

Pennsylvania's House of Representatives was scheduled to debate a $2.4 billion transportation bill that Senate counterparts approved a day earlier.

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker said Thursday the Fed's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee could begin reducing asset purchases at one of its next three meetings, but said it will depend on the economic data.

Chicago-based law firm Shefsky & Froelich and Ohio-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP have agreed to join forces.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard Thursday said the economy, and in particular the housing market, has shown improvement over the past few years.

The Texas Public Finance Authority plans to issue $45 million of general obligation refunding bonds bearing the state's triple-A rating on Dec. 4.

California's budgetary condition is stronger now than it has been in the past decade, according to a report released by the Legislative Analyst's office on Wednesday.

Patton Boggs LLP has continued to expand its New York team with the hiring of Pamela Robertson, a former partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP.