Bonds

New Mexico’s Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners approved its biggest-ever issuance of industrial revenue bonds on Tuesday with an up to $942 million conduit deal for a solar cell manufacturing facility. Proceeds from the taxable debt will help finance an 834,000-square-foot facility in the Mesa del Sol industrial development area for Ebon Solar that officials

Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets LLC has brought on three new hires, including one that will open the firm’s first Philadelphia office, as part of its effort to build out its northeast and Texas public finance business. The hires of Jaimie Scranton, Doug Adams and Christopher Dinno follow the firm’s hiring in March of four senior

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives and the Senate both signed off on a continuing resolution that will keep the government open and federal funds flowing to state and local governments.  A bipartisan effort on both sides of the Capitol building was required with a 341 to 82 decision in the House and 78 to

California Controller Malia Cohen released recommendations Wednesday crafted by a task force formed in 2023 to strengthen auditing functions for the state’s charter schools after 11 San Diego charter schools became embroiled in a fraud case. The task force established audit criteria and best practices to detect and curtail charter school fraud following a case

Georgia’s weakening economy and the long-run impact of recent tax cuts are concerns, credit analysts say, albeit ones the state’s triple-A bond ratings may ride out successfully. The state’s unemployment rate has gone up for four consecutive months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The GOP-dominated state government has been cutting the top

Dan Callahan joined UMB Bank’s capital markets division as a senior vice president and public finance banker, the bank announced last week. Based in Austin, Callahan will oversee sales and business development, focusing on “UMB’s continued growth in the Texas municipal market through enhanced offerings in school municipal financing that will deliver sustainable results for

Municipals were steady for another session as the primary market took focus with several large deals seeing yields lowered upon repricing. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities saw losses. The Investment Company Institute reported $1.329 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Sept. 18 after $1.402 billion of inflows the

Almost every state has cut taxes over the past few years, but as the economy returns to normal, budget shortfalls are starting to emerge.  “The past few years have been dominated by tax cuts,” said Richard Auxier,  a principal policy associate in the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “From 2021 to 2023, 48 out of 50 states

The National Federation of Municipal Analysts has released a best practices for the Environmental Protection Agency managed Clean Water State Revolving Funds and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds in a 10-part document detailing what to include on official statements, annual reports and in interim disclosures. That follows the draft best practices NFMA released in July

Law firm Sherman & Howard will merge with Taft effective Jan. 1, in a move aimed at extending their combined public finance geographical reach. The merged group will be positioned to serve public finance clients across an expanded footprint and beyond, the law firms said in a statement.  “With this merger, we are deepening the

Four years into what the Biden administration has dubbed the “infrastructure decade,” and as most experts say the government needs to ramp up investment to fix the nation’s aging roads, bridges and water systems, one academic floats a contrarian view. “America creates and maintains too much infrastructure,” wrote Judge Glock, director of research and a

Meredith Hathorn, chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, will be passing the baton off to Warren “Bo” Daniels at the end of this month, capping off a two year stint on top of a storied four decade career in public finance and public service.  Hathorn served as vice chair under Chair Patrick Brett before

A Missouri government is the latest to offer government support — funded through municipal bonds —to revive a moribund mall.  But developer River City Centre’s plan for West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau, a city of 40,500 along Interstate 55 about midway between St. Louis and Memphis, breaks with the current trend of converting malls

Bond-financed redevelopment underpins Kansas City, Missouri’s plan to tackle decades-old blight and environmental issues that go back further in the Historic Northeast neighborhood. Clay County Commissioner Scott Wagner, previously a Kansas City councilman, told The Bond Buyer that “just the sheer magnitude” of this redevelopment project presented a challenge, but it stands a chance of

Municipals were little changed Tuesday as the primary market picked up steam, led by two billion-dollar retail offerings and upsized deals for New York paper. U.S. Treasuries were firmer and equities closed the session up, led by the S&P 500 hitting a new record. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was at 65%, the three-year at

Fintech firm BondWave and database management firm DPC Data plan to integrate several of DPC Data’s products into Bondwave’s Effi platform. This partnership allows users with a DPC Data subscription to access content directly within Effi, or Engine for Fixed Income, providing Effi users with more information for all municipal bond positions in their portfolio.

S&P Global Ratings placed more than 400 state and local government issuers under criteria observation as the agency adopts updated U.S. government rating methodology it instituted earlier this month. Under the new criteria, there is a single scored framework and a common set of weights for all U.S. governments, including the issuer’s individual credit profile

The Municipal Bonds for America coalition is pressing the importance of key legislative issues affecting the world of public finance onto the docket of the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means.    “We did some meetings up on the Hill earlier this summer, almost simultaneously as when Ways and Means majority leadership announced their tax

Moody’s Ratings revised the outlook on New Mexico’s Aa2 rating to positive from stable, while downgrading ratings on certain state transportation and severance tax bonds in the wake of a methodology update review.  The positive outlook, which affects $521 million of outstanding general obligation bonds, reflects Moody’s view “the state’s strong financial position, reflected in

Siebert Williams Shank has hired five senior and junior public finance professionals across the country, with the intention of expanding the firm’s footprint. Their responsibilities will include transaction execution, client relationship management, and quantitative analysis. Two will be based in Siebert’s New York City office, two in its Oakland, California, office, and one in its

The municipal bond market will be showered this week with nearly $2 billion of triple-A-rated debt from water agencies in Southwest states facing drought and other climate issues. The Texas Water Development Board tops the week’s issuance calendar with $1.6 billion of State Water Implementation Revenue Fund for Texas master trust bonds to finance local