The Muni Lowdown

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Senior Reporter Simone Baribeau on the performance of proton therapy centers backed by municipal bonds. Simone provides a brief overview proton therapy technology. She then delves into the advantages and disadvantages of proton therapy vs traditional radiation. The discussion shifts to P...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Head of Muni Research Greg Clark and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani about the evolving evaluation of wildfire risk and municipal bonds. Stephanie kicks off the podcast by providing a report on the extent of the damage, the initial cost estimates and the current status as it remains an...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Reporters Simone Baribeau and Adrian Espallargas about Puerto Rico. Simone kicks off the podcast highlighting recent developments in the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority restructuring. The discussion shifts to recent actions by the Financial Oversight and Management Board by Simone....

On the podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Dr. Peter Adriaens, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Michigan and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani on water utilities, weather risk and investor demand. Dr. Adriaens kicks off the podcast by a brief overview of the article he contributed to that was published a couple of months ago in the Environmental...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire North America Analyst John Sinna, about the latest developments with Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. The podcast begins with John providing a summary of the key events that have occurred in the past year. John then highlights the key issues that remain unresolved as of Septem...

The latest Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast features Managing Editor Paul Greaves discussing public pensions with Jean-Pierre Aubry, associate director of state and local research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani. Jean-Pierre kicks off the podcast by providing his thoughts on what “private credit” means in the context of public p...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Liz Farmer, a public finance expert and Kunal Kamal about the growing auditor shortage and delays in government financial reporting. Liz kicks off the podcast by explaining the difference in median audit times between corporate and municipal bond issuers. The conversation shifts to discu...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire Legal Analyst Paul Gunther and Reporter Simone Baribeau on the recent court ruling that PREPA bonds are secured. Last month, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that PREPA [Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority] bondholders have a secured USD 8.5bn claim on the utility’s net...

On the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Triet Nguyen, vice president of Strategic Data Operations with DPC Data and Reporter Kunal Kamal about evolving high yield municipal market risk factors. Triet kicks off the podcast by discussing how risk factors in the high yield municipal bond market since wrote his book in 2012 called “Investing in the Hig...

On the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Thomas Brosy, a senior research associate with The Tax Policy Center and Reporter Kunal Kamal about the impact of declining commercial property revenues on city budgets. Thomas kicks off the podcast by delving into the intricate landscape of property tax dynamics and the potential impact on municipal revenues...

On the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow with Brookings Metro and Reporter Kunal Kamal about declining commercial real estate valuations and property tax revenues. Tracy kicks off the podcast by providing us a framework for understanding that issues as significant as commercial real estate (CRE) declines require structural...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Neil deMause, author of Field of Schemes and Reporter Kunal Kamal about stadium finance.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire ABS Editorial Director Eric Homer and Reporter Kunal Kamal about commercial real estate.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to Adam Smith, applied climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about billion-dollar climate and weather disasters. The podcast begins with Adam explaining his job with NOAA. Adam provides an overview of the findings from NOAA’s billion-dollar climate and weather d...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Simone Baribeau about recent developments with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy proceedings. Simone begins the podcast by providing a historical overview of PREPA’s restructuring. That leads into a discussion about the upcoming confirmation hearing in March 2024. Simon...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Greg Clark, head of research, about trends and updates for lower-rated nonprofit hospitals. The podcast begins with Greg providing an overview of the surveillance project he initiated last year on nonprofit hospitals and hospital systems. The impetus was the financial problems brought on...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with a journalist on the team, Kunal Kamal, about coronavirus spending by states and localities. The podcast begins with Kunal providing an overview of the spending of coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds. Kunal then discusses the distinctions between how much funding has been ob...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to Morgan Zabow, Community Heat and Health Information Coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about extreme heat. The podcast begins with Morgan explaining her job and the Urban Heat Island mapping campaign. Morgan goes on to explain the role of citizen science vol...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to a journalist on the team, Kunal Kamal, about the effects climate and weather risk on the municipal market. The podcast begins with Paul providing an overview of climate and weather risk in the United States. Kunal then discusses on climate change is affecting municipalities across the coun...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire North America Analyst John Sinna, about the future of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. The podcast begins with a recounting of the Maui wildfire in August and the resulting fallout for Hawaiian Electric (HE) which includes a congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee he...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Chuck Stanley of Infralogic discusses the status of electric vehicles (EVs) and its charging infrastructure for states, local government entities and nonprofits. To kick off the podcast, Chuck provides an overview of federal electric vehicle incentives and its importance to state and local governments. The conversation turns to...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with one of the team’s journalists, Deb Pace, to discuss water issues in the Southwest focusing on Texas, Arizona, and Nevada. Deb begins the podcast by discussing the efforts of the Texas Water Development Board, their recently released water report that showed that 31% of Texas is under dro...

Debtwire Municipals' Head of Research Greg Clark interviews Jeffrey J. Previdi, vice chair of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), discussing organization efforts on monitoring projects and standard setting agenda items. Jeff starts out the podcast by discussing “monitoring projects that GASB has undertaken that include: the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), ESG [environmental...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Javier Balmaceda of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) discusses with our team his perspective on Puerto Rico’s ongoing eight-year restructuring effort. To kick off the podcast, Javier provides his personal and professional background and its relevance to his current role at CBPP and in understanding Puerto Rico’...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with reporters Sophia Clark and Simone Baribeau about the relatively new phenomenon of university-based retirement communities. On this podcast, Simone discusses when university-based retirement communities became a viable option about 15 years ago and breaks down the leasing structure. Sophi...