Southeast

Dr. Shawn Wilson, former Louisiana Transportation Secretary, discusses the transformative Calcasieu Bridge project, lessons from public-private partnerships, and how the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is reshaping U.S. infrastructure development.

While the new tax policies should address the state's projected deficit, rating agencies are cautious about the projected revenues and federal spending on Medicaid, which could impact Louisiana.

The state will try to convince the rating agency to lift its debt to AA, to match the rating others have assigned.

The bonds — $824.8 million tax-exempt and $400 million taxable — follow Orlando Health's major acquisitions of hospitals in Alabama and Florida.

The Florida-based mining company failed to make $10 million in principal and interest payments due on Jan. 1. Florida had the largest number of defaults in 2024 at nine, per Municipal Market Analytics, Inc.

Florida sold $131.9 million of bonds Wednesday with double-barreled backing from the state's fuel tax and its full faith and credit pledge.

The largest issuance the Local Government Commission approved was $387 million of bonds for Mecklenburg County.

Enviva's bankruptcy is the latest Chapter 11 bankruptcy where green private activity bonds are restructured to near zero.

The muni market saw $507.585 billion of debt issued in 2024, up 31.8% from $385.061 in 2023. This surpasses the previous record of $484.601 billion in 2020 by more than $20 billion, per LSEG data.