More than 160 projects across all states won a chunk of federal funds from a popular and competitive transportation grant program. The projects will “make transportation systems safer, more accessible and more sustainable,” said White House infrastructure senior advisor Mitch Landrieu Tuesday in a press call announcing the grants. “Each one of the projects are
Bonds
Fitch Ratings said that a decade of deleveraging has officially come to an end for public power utilities in the United States. Leverage metrics for U.S. public power utilities weakened meaningfully, Fitch said in a sector review issued last week. This has effectively reversed the trend of deleveraging that began over 10 years ago, the
Raymond James has expanded its public finance department with three hires for its senior living and debt restructuring groups. The team of David Fields, Rob Whitlock and Naomi O’Dell joins the firm from RBC Capital Markets bringing a combined 80 years of senior living investment banking and debt restructuring experience. “The addition of this specialized
As the Biden administration this week kicks off a national tour promoting its nearly two-year-old infrastructure law, the work to dispatch the funds into state and local coffers has just begun. A recent exchange between Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., at a June 14 Senate committee hearing on
Pension funding-related threats to Chicago and Illinois’ fiscal health are on the rise, reports published this week warn. Chicago and Illinois — longtime examples of outliers nationally on the size of their unfunded liabilities and funded ratios — have made progress, with Chicago now making payments more closely aligned with an actuarial calculation and both
The judge in the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said the bondholders should get about 28.4% of par value of debt and interest outstanding, largely in line with a figure the Oversight Board said was available. U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain on Monday set a bond claim value of about $2.405 billion. This
Municipals are steady to slightly firmer in spots Tuesday as the primary market took the focus with gilt-edged Georgia selling its large general obligation offering in the competitive market to strong demand. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities rallied. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was at 61%, the three-year at 63%, the five-year at 64%,
Bank of America is seeking to resume its municipal-bond underwriting in Texas after a nearly two-year pause because of a Republican-backed law targeting banks over their gun policies, according to public records obtained by Bloomberg. Bank of America, the nation’s biggest muni underwriter, hasn’t managed debt sales by Texas or its cities since two GOP
New York is seeking to procure a supercomputer to run artificial intelligence systems and gain a deeper understanding of the technology for more effective regulation. “When I say the DFS is looking at AI and machine learning, it’s not limited to how we evaluate private sector use of those tools,” said New York Department of
States and local governments have until the end of August to apply for up to $5.5 billion in newly available funding under a trio of major infrastructure programs that the White House opened up Tuesday. The announcement comes as the Biden administration kicks off a national tour highlighting infrastructure investments, a cornerstone of President Joe
Houston emerged from the Texas Legislature’s 2023 session with mixed results as one new law could erode its home-rule powers, while another will help it finance a convention center expansion. Mayor Sylvester Turner’s office released a report Monday on bills passed by the Republican-controlled legislature affecting the state’s largest city, calling the session that concluded
Detroit plans to return to the market as soon as next month with a $100 million offering of voter-authorized general obligation bonds to speed up blight removal and fund parks and transportation projects. The Detroit Financial Review Commission, put in place by the state to provide oversight of city finances and monitor compliance with its
The budget agreement reached by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers late Monday provides a lifeline to struggling transit agencies, but comes with strings attached. The parties negotiated all weekend without reaching an agreement, making it seem likely they would come barreling up to the Friday deadline ahead of the July 1, 2023-24 fiscal year
The Federal Aviation Administration’s reauthorization process may not be a major opportunity for the nation’s airports to reinvent themselves due to the large amount of funding passed in recent years, but it does present an opportunity for them to identify the challenges they still face. “Because of the airports really doing well in the earlier
Transcription: Chip Barnett (00:03):Hi and welcome to another edition of The Bond Buyer podcast. I’m Chip Barnett and my guest today is Virginia Wong. She’s a partner with Nixon Peabody, where she leads the law firm’s project finance and public finance practice group. And today we’re going to be focusing on effective mentorship and building
Vikram Rai, head of Citi’s municipal strategy group, has left the firm, he announced on Monday, after his position was eliminated. “Today was my last day at Citi,” he said in an email to clients. “I got cut,” he told The Bond Buyer. “I’m looking for a new job now.” Rai is an outspoken and
A federal bankruptcy court judge sided with Detroit in a ruling Monday that the police and fire pension system lacked authority to bypass the city’s Chapter 9 plan of adjustment and cut 10 years off the amortization of unfunded liabilities. The Police and Fire Retirement System voted in 2021 to shift to a 20-year amortization
Richard Ravitch, one of the financial saviors of New York City’ during the near bankruptcy of the city in the 1970s, died Sunday. He was 89, just over a week shy of his 90th birthday. Ravitch, a former Lt. Governor of New York State and chair of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was an
Municipals were steady to start off the week, awaiting an outsized new-issue calendar, while U.S. Treasuries were slightly firmer 10 years and in and equities ended mixed. Despite the slow start for munis, “buyers are becoming more constructive, and there’s increased buying going on,” said Pat Luby, a CreditSights strategist. He said this week’s $6.9
A Florida state agency is selling municipal bonds to backstop the state’s homeowner’s insurance industry sector a surge of claims and litigation drove some insurers to shutter. The Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, which handles the claims of insolvent insurers, plans to borrow $600 million in the muni market, according to preliminary offering documents. It is
Minnesota expects to save $226 million in interest payments due to its early payoff Monday of outstanding debt from a 2014 issue that covered the public tab for the Minnesota Vikings’ stadium. The state enacted electronic pull-tab gambling to help repay a $498 million appropriation-backed bond issue with a final 2043 maturity for the NFL