Author: Geoff Weitzel

Municipal Bond Credit Report: The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Crosby Independent School District in Texas and its former chief financial officer Carla Merka with misleading investors in a $20 million municipal bond sale, in addition to charging district auditor Shelby Lackey with improper professional conduct in the district’s 2017 fiscal year financial statements……

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: News about the “novel coronavirus” was intensifying in March 2020. The World Health Organization declared a pandemic March 11. The NBA and NHL suspended their seasons March 12 after a Utah Jazz basketball player tested positive for COVID-19… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Political corruption taints the reputations of Chicago and Illinois and may influence decisions by businesses and voters at the polls, but it’s harder to measure the indirect toll on ratings, borrowing costs, and population trends… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Puerto Rico’s Plan of Adjustment went into effect Tuesday as did the restructuring of $33 billion of bonds, with bondholders and bond insurers beginning to receive the newly restructured bonds and trading starting in earnest… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: New applications for unemployment benefits edged lower last week, remaining near historically low levels in a robust U.S. labor market… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Federal Reserve officials voted Wednesday to lift interest rates and penciled in six more increases by year’s end, the most aggressive pace in more than 15 years, in an escalating effort to slow inflation that is running at its highest levels in four decades… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Sales of previously owned homes declined in February as rising mortgage-interest rates and a shortage of homes for sale made it difficult for buyers to compete… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Regulators are carrying out a sweeping investigation of conflicts of interest at the nation’s largest accounting firms, asking whether consulting and other nonaudit services they sell undermine their ability to conduct independent reviews of public companies’ financials, according to people familiar with the matter… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Just as the U.S. economy appeared to be recovering from pandemic-induced shocks, the Russia-Ukraine war has injected a sense of uncertainty and risk for the U.S. and California economies as it threatens to increase inflation and slow economic growth, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast… Link to Story

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Municipal Bond Credit Report: Detroit plans to ask the federal bankruptcy court to intervene in pension fund actions that will add to budget strains when post-Chapter 9 contributions resume in 2024… Link to Story

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