Bonds

Melissa Messina, a veteran public finance lawyer, has rejoined Miles & Stockbridge as a principal in its Baltimore, Maryland, office. She will focus on senior living and life-plan communities. Messina previously worked as a financial advisor and investment banker at HJ Sims, counseling nonprofit life plan communities, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. She advised

Nearly half of America’s private colleges and universities reported negative operating margins in fiscal year 2023, and the situation was even worse in the Midwest, according to preliminary data compiled by Merritt Research Services. Within the Midwest region, roughly 50% of colleges in the east north central states had negative operating margins, while 67% of

The number of distressed charter schools rose to a record in the beginning of 2024 as the sector struggles with the end of pandemic assistance and rising costs. So far this year, five charter schools have become impaired, meaning a borrower has defaulted on their debt, broken a covenant or used some emergency means to

A hotter-than-anticipated inflation report spurred a selloff in U.S. Treasuries and equities, and municipals could not ignore the broader markets and closed weaker on the day. Triple-A yields rose up to six basis points but largely outperformed UST losses that touched 17 to 20 basis points on the short end. Expectations for a Fed rate

Small muni market firms are being overburdened by an excessive regulatory environment that favors the large Wall Street firms, with small firms feeling overwhelmed by the recent amendments to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-14 on time of trade that reduces the trade reporting window to one minute. Those complaints are being expressed as part

The value of the New York State’s common retirement fund was estimated at $259.9 billion at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023-24, state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Tuesday. For the three-month period ending Dec. 31, the fund’s investments returned an estimated 6.18%. The fund’s long-term expected rate of return is 5.9%. In

Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey’s $56.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2025 calls for increased funding to the state’s Commonwealth Transportation Fund that will enable it to borrow an additional $1.1 billion over the next five years. The fiscal 2025 budget proposal, which represents a 2.9% increase over the current year’s spending, would dedicate $250

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. The prospect of three consecutive negative total return years, a GAO ruling giving congress the power to review the DoT’s multimodal discretionary grant funding opportunity, and a proposed new tax on electric vehicles are among the latest developments in the Capitol that

The days of booming job growth in Texas may be ebbing, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve, which expects the state to return to more normal growth of 2% this year. In their economic outlook for the Lone Star State released Friday, Dallas Fed economists projected the addition of 283,500 jobs in 2024, following gains

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy proceedings will not be paused despite a request from bond parties, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Monday. Though the First Circuit Court of Appeals is considering how bond parties’ liens on PREPA’s revenues should be treated in the bankruptcy, Swain said regardless of that court’s

Municipals were steady in light secondary trading Monday as U.S. Treasuries were flat and equities ended mixed. The muni market will see “continued strength,” said Wesly Pate, senior portfolio manager at Income Research + Management, largely due to the supply/demand imbalance. “We have entered into a period of a cumulative structural shortfall of tax-exempt debt

Howard Mallen has been named chief financial officer of the Transportation Corridor Agencies. Mallen will take over CFO duties from Amy Potter, who has been serving a dual role as CFO and deputy chief executive officer since December 2022. Potter was named CFO in 2004. TCA comprises two joint powers authorities formed by the California

The Alameda Transportation Authority sold over $216 million in revenue refunding bonds to restructure ACTA’s debt through a combined tender offer and debt restructuring plan. The bond sale allowed ACTA to reshape its profile to avoid projected debt service shortfalls and match anticipated revenue growth. The rail corridor consists of a 20-mile multi-track rail system

A proposed plan to build a $2 billion arena complex in Northern Virginia through a public-private partnership that would move two major league sports franchises out of Washington D.C .is attracting pushback from state legislators, local residents, and Washington’s mayor who’s offering $500 million in renovations to the team’s current home.   “The city would leverage our

Oklahoma’s credit quality is looking up, rating agencies say, with Fitch Ratings joining Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings in revising the state’s rating outlook to positive from stable. Fitch, which rates Oklahoma AA, said Friday the revision reflects sustained improvements in expenditure flexibility and overall fiscal management, “particularly its adherence to conservative budgeting

Top Congressional Republicans want to overturn a Biden administration rule requiring states and metropolitan planning organizations to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions. A Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval that Republicans filed last week has the support in the Senate of 49 Republicans and Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, W. Va. A companion House version was

When buses ferrying migrants north from Texas began arriving in Naperville, Illinois, which is roughly 30 miles from Chicago, local officials were caught off guard. “We had a total of six buses in December and they went directly to the Metra train station with occupants boarding trains to Chicago,” Naperville Director of Communications Linda LaClouche

Market volatility, an inverted yield curve, higher yields and huge swings in the SIFMA swap index are giving issuers pause when considering floating-rate debt products. Issuance of variable rate demand obligations and other floating-rate debt saw a small increase in 2023 year-over-year, but it’s unclear if that trend will continue into 2024 due to the

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to tap the commonwealth’s surplus revenues for his wide-ranging budget agenda. The Democrat proposed sweeping changes to Pennsylvania’s K-12 and higher education systems and $500 million of borrowing to fund his new economic development plan in his budget address on Tuesday.  The budget proposal was $48.34 billion, an increase of

Municipals ended the week quieter than they began it with a mostly steady to firmer tone in spots Friday, outperforming U.S. Treasuries, which saw small losses. Equities were mixed at the close. Tax-exempt yields have moved higher with Treasuries, but outperformed on the whole, while municipal to UST ratios have been “largely moving sideways” in

Employee-owned international broker-dealer Baird has launched a California Public Finance group and hired veteran banker John Baracy as a managing director to run it and be the California K-12 market lead. “It’s been a market we wanted to expand in just given the size of the California economy,” said Brian Brewer, Baird’s director of public