Bond ratings

Moody's also upgraded other Florida locality bonds recently as a result of a revised cities and counties rating methodology.

"That's great news, and it reflects the outstanding work and commitment of our city council and my administration to keep Tampa on rock-solid financial footing," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

A negative outlook for the city's AA rating by Fitch Ratings follows similar action taken by S&P Global Ratings in July.

Moodys says it is placing additional weight on the states' Aaa ratings in determining the Garvee ratings.

Fitch cited economic and demographic factors in explaining the downgrade.

Robin Prunty, who retired Aug. 31 as S&P's chief analytical officer for governments, took on a role on its U.S. board the next day.

Fitch also upgraded the city's Georgia Municipal Association certificates of participation (city of Atlanta public safety projects) to AA-plus from AA.

South Dakota voters will have the opportunity to end the state tax on groceries this November.

LINXS, the private developer consortium, and Los Angeles World Airports struck an agreement on a timeline for completion of the people mover project, pushing Fitch Ratings' outlook higher.

The rating agency estimated the cost of college and university capital needs at $750 billion to $950 billion over the next decade.

The mayor and controller debated the causes for the rating outlook revision to negative from stable ahead of a July city bond sale.

Fitch upgraded Chicago's issuer default rating and GO debt rating to A-minus from BBB-plus and the city's sales tax securitization bonds to AAA from AA-plus.

Continued economic growth and budgetary discipline could lead to an upgrade of the state's AA rating over the next two years, S&P said.

Both ratings agencies cited the health system's improved liquidity in recent years.

S&P Global Ratings is concerned that fall freshmen enrollment will be down significantly after dropping last year.

The one notch upgrade affects $256 million in outstanding bonds and resulted from Fitch's recent criteria change.

The private-activity bonds funding LAX's automated people mover project have been downgraded to junk by Fitch amid delays and disagreements with the private developer. But Fitch affirmed the airport's AA rating.

The rating agency's new local government rating criteria led to the higher rating.

The system, along with UT Southwestern Medical Center, plan to build a $5 billion pediatric health campus in Dallas.

The City of Angels is the latest in recent days to score a ratings upgrade as Fitch reviews its local government ratings using amended criteria.