News and Information from Bond Buyer

Inflation and labor struggles are pounding hospital balance sheets and the pressures could damage ratings.

The inclusion of swaps has the potential to increase claimed damages in the New York State lawsuit, though banks view swap materials as providing a potential defense.

Chicago put its message on fiscal progress directly to bondholders at the annual investors conference last week.

Borrower Jasper Pellets and trustee US Bank have been locked in a legal battle after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 27.

Brokers should be aware that inaccurate tax reporting could force its brokerage clients to seek damages and could force dealers to make their clients sign a liability waiver, as the recent muni case Richard Goodman v. UBS Financial Services highlights.

Fitch is bulking up its public finance group with the addition of six municipal bond analysts for its offices in San Francisco, New York and Austin.

It was a busy day in the primary Tuesday, with New York City pricing $950 million of GOs for retail and Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, selling in the competitive market.

The finance team on the Western Placer Waste Management Authority deal hopes to benefit from an improving market with increased inflows.

The city takes competitive bids Wednesday on $124 million of GOs.

The respected muni tax expert died unexpectedly Aug. 14.

Ramirez & Co. and Cabrera Capital Markets, LLC — two Hispanic MWBE firms — are joint bookrunners for the deal, part of Dallas County's sustained push to "maximize professional diversity on the issuance," officials said.

William Glasgall of the Volcker Alliance dives deep into factors affecting state and local budgets. He looks at what the Inflation Reduction Act means, how states are using stimulus money and economic effects of work from home. Caitlin Devitt hosts. (31 minutes)

Higher education borrowing led by century bond deals helped offset the dive in refundings brought on by rising interest rates.

The mediation team cites progress, but needs more time to reach an agreement.

Moody's said 35 out of the 82 borrowers that disclosed first-time draws on debt service reserve funds since April 2020 have averted delinquency "at least for now."

Gorab, president and managing director of New Jersey's Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer, died in June at age 61.

"Demand for low-duration tax-exempts has been so strong that short maturity benchmark yields are now lower than the after-tax yields for comparably rated benchmark taxable muni and corporate bonds," said CreditSights strategists Pat Luby and John Ceffalio.

Inflation and material shortages are accelerating the P3 trend of bringing in a private team before price is finalized, which could expose investors to cost-escalation risk.

Vern Breland is representing himself, and told a court he relied on his municipal advisor.

Bond issuance in the Southwest region was down 10.1% to $40.8 billion from January through June compared to the same period in 2021.