Brightline train’s proposed extension to Tampa won a vote of confidence Friday from a coalition of planning and transportation organizations, two months after the sale of $925 million of high-yield municipal bonds to finance the planned extension. The Suncoast Transportation Planning Alliance and Central Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Alliance, which together represent 10 metropolitan planning

The start of a trial to determine whether bonds could be issued to finance a multi-billion-dollar light-rail project in Austin was halted Monday after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office filed an emergency motion with a state appeals court. A Travis County District Court judge planned to commence the trial before ruling on the attorney

The credit quality of issuers that do not disclose climate-related vulnerabilities, or their plans to address such risks, should be examined more closely by investors and considered riskier long-term investments than their public ratings may imply. Given the “constant, widespread reporting of climate change perils, and the current abundance of free, public data,” bondholders can

Columbus, Ohio, recently embarked on a technological modernization push that employs artificial intelligence in its payroll, revenue and accounting and operations systems. Columbus Auditor Megan Kilgore said her office now uses AI for everything from reconciling differences between sets of data to visualizing city finances for the mayor or City Council members with almost real-time

The Arizona Legislature wrapped up its session Saturday, passing legislation to mitigate the impact of a $329 million property tax refund to be paid by Maricopa County governments and school districts, as well as a fiscal 2025 budget that tackles a two-year deficit. The refunds resulted from a stipulated judgment issued in February for class-action

Municipals were steady to slightly weaker in spots as U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities ended up. Despite some slight weakness Monday, munis continued “their impressive start to June,” with yields falling 10 to 13 basis points last week, Birch Creek strategists said. Munis have rallied roughly 24 to 29 basis points month-to-date, a “complete

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board announced Monday the addition of the Tradeweb AAA Municipal Curve to its Electronic Municipal Market Access website, the latest step in the board’s years-long effort to centralize more such data on EMMA. MSRB’s John Bagley hailed the new addition to EMMA. The curve is now another of several available on

Los Angeles is the latest issuer to come to market riding a Fitch Ratings upgrade from its revised local government criteria as the city prepares to sell social bonds competitively to support its efforts to eradicate homelessness. Fitch upgraded the city’s issuer default rating to AA-plus from AA and assigned a AAA rating to the