The Muni Lowdown

Host Paul Greaves and Ben Miller, managing editor for Debtwire Latin America, speak with our guest about how Venezuela’s political shock and the CITGO sale are reshaping expectations for one of the world’s largest sovereign restructurings. After the January operation that led to Nicolás Maduro’s capture and Delcy Rodríguez becoming interim president, Venezuelan bonds surged into the low 40s as inv...

Paul Greaves and co‑host Kunal Kamal sit down with Tod Trabacco, Head of Private Debt Advisory at StepStone Group, to unpack how private credit is reshaping pensions, infrastructure finance and the drivers of municipal credit strength. Tod explains how major public pensions structure private credit portfolios, the risks they focus on, and how liquidity dynamics influence performance. He connects t...

Paul Greaves and Kunal Kamal speak with John Miller, Head and CIO of Municipal Credit at First Eagle Investments, on how heavy supply and repeated system shocks are driving credit dispersion in munis and reshaping risk. In the episode, Miller discusses how recent developments in project finance have reinforced a broader shift in municipal markets away from broad market moves and toward issuer‑spec...

Host Paul Greaves and co‑host Kunal Kamal talk with UNLV economist Andrew Woods about what diverging tourism indicators reveal about the real state of the Las Vegas economy. Las Vegas visitor counts are falling even as Strip gaming revenue hits records. Andrew Woods explains what these conflicting signals mean, why fewer visitors may be spending more, and how rising prices are reshaping demand. We...

On The Muni Lowdown, Paul Greaves and Stephanie Fagnani speak with Aayushi Mishra, PhD candidate and Lizzy Warner Fellow, about how climate pressures are reshaping the fiscal outlook for cities and states. This episode breaks down how the loop forms—starting with how climate impacts move through a city’s finances, from emergency response costs to disrupted revenues and rising insurance pressures....

On this episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with public finance expert Liz Farmer about the shifting realities facing state and local budgets. Liz begins by outlining what feels stable—and what feels newly uncertain—as governments enter another budget cycle. From there, she unpacks how rapid federal policy shifts and more assertive federal a...

In this episode of Muni Lowdown, we take a look at New Hampshire’s first‑of‑its‑kind Bitcoin‑backed municipal bond with guest Les Borsai, Co‑Founder of Wave Digital Assets. We unpack what the deal actually is—in straightforward municipal terms—and why a conduit issuer became the vehicle of choice for a digital‑asset‑collateralized financing. We explore the rationale behind using this structure. Le...

Laura L. Mayfield, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager on the Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. Securitized Products desk joins Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Journalist Kunal Kamal to discuss ABS stress and municipal revenues. In this episode, we delve into whether asset-backed securities (ABS) offer an early warning system for shifts in the broader economy. We examine emerging...

Managing Editor Paul Greaves, Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani and Head of Public Policy and Municipal Strategy Tom Kozlik at Hilltop Securities discuss how federal policy and artificial intelligence are reshaping the municipal market. This episode dives into the evolving dynamics of municipal finance in the face of shifting federal funding and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). We explore...

The latest Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast features Managing Editor Paul Greaves discussing state funding of disasters with Peter Muller, Senior Officer at The Pew Charitable Trusts and Journalist Kunal Kamal. Peter was one of the lead authors for the recently published issue brief by Pew entitled "What Waning Federal Disaster Aid Would Mean for State Budgets." The podcast begins with Pet...

The latest Muni Lowdown podcast features Senior Policy Analyst Javier Balmaceda of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Senior Reporter Simone Baribeau discussing PREPA's bankruptcy proceedings with Managing Editor Paul Greaves. Simone initiates the discussion with an overview of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's (PREPA) and current status. Javier moves the dialogue towards the...

The latest Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast features Managing Editor Paul Greaves discussing public pensions with Justin Marlowe, Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani. Justin begins the podcast by providing a brief overview of challenges faced by Chicago Public Schools (CPS) over the decade and how it connects to the...

This Muni Lowdown podcast features Managing Editor Paul Greaves discussing public pensions with Jean-Pierre Aubry, associate director of research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani. Jean-Pierre kicks off the podcast explaining the center’s Public Plans Database that is leveraged to analyze plans. The conversation shifts to discussing the k...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Reporter Kunal Kamal speak with John Miller, Head and Chief Investment Officer of the Municipal Credit Team at First Eagle Investments. John has had a front-row seat to the municipal market for over three decades. The discussion starts with John by sharing a couple of key principles that have gu...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Reporters Kunal Kamal and Simone Baribeau about the high-speed rail project Brightline Florida. Kunal starts with a breakdown of Brightline’s capital structure. The discussion segues into Kunal providing background on the July bond interest payment deferral and what’s next on the refinan...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Karel Citroen, managing director of municipal research at Conning about state credit quality. Karel starts with an overview of the report methodology. The discussion then shifts to the fiscal resilience of states and whether potential federal funding...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Jennifer Johnston, Director of Municipal Bond Research at Franklin Templeton about the outlook for higher education. Jennifer starts the podcast with an overview on the importance of governance and management team and how a key person vacancy, like the president, can impact credit. The d...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Reporter Kunal Kamal speak with Dora Lee, Director of Research at Belle Haven Investments about the outlook for the municipal market. Dora starts the podcast with an overview of Belle Haven’s investment strategy during this current period of uncertainty in the municipal market. The discussion sh...

On the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Jon Porter, senior vice president and chief meteorologist for AccuWeather about building infrastructure climate resilience. Jon discusses the narrowing time gap between billion-dollar disasters historically compared to now. Additionally, Jon provides some comments on storm...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves talks with the Head of Securitized Products Research and Strategy at Academy Securities, Dr. Stav Gaon, about stadium securitizations. Debtwire ABS Editorial Director Eric Homer and Reporter Kunal Kamal also join the podcast. Dr. Gaon provides an overview of asset-backed securities (ABS) and how the...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Cooper Howard, fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab about federal policy and the muni market. Cooper provides his thoughts on the “question marks” surrounding federal policy initiatives on the municipal market such as tariffs. The discussion shif...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak to Cybersecurity Content Specialist Bradley Barth about municipal bond issuers grappling with cyberattacks Bradley provides his thoughts on whether in-house expertise is enough or if security programs necessitate collaboration with a third-party vendor. Th...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire North America Credit Analyst John Sinna on the latest developments with Hawaiian Electric and Edison International. The podcast covers the situations in the aftermath of wildfires for Hawaiian Electric and Edison International by “comparing and contrasting” where things stand by...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Senior Research Analyst Dr. Erika Smull of Breckinridge Capital Advisors on pricing climate risk. Dr. Smull initiates the discussion by explaining the concept of “benchmark aware” in the context of municipal bond investment strategies. The conversatio...

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves and Curation Editor Stephanie Fagnani speak with Andrew Flynn, managing director of California Municipal Advisors about the municipal market. Andrew provides a brief overview of his role as a municipal advisor. The discussion shifts to Andrew sharing his “tree analogy” that explains his financial ad...