Lawrence, KS, has added $11.4 million in energy efficiency upgrades. LJ World reports that the projects include installation of solar panels and LEDs and smart thermostats. The savings of the project will go into a debt service fund and pay for green bonds to finance the projects.

Municipal bond yields jumped to a one-year high following Tuesday's election and surprise victory for Donald Trump. Muni yields have been drifting higher in recent weeks, ahead of the expected Federal Reserve interest rate increase in December. But bond yields reacted swiftly to the election results, with the yield on the 10-year muni bond leaping 1.04 percent between Tuesday and Thursday.

That lack of notification has rendered ordinances creating two districts invalid and sends the developer back to square one in seeking incentives for the nearly 5 million-square-foot redevelopment.

In what's shaping up as a preemptive move, the Olathe City Council on Tuesday will consider creating a large STAR bond district later this year to cover the former Great Mall of the Great Plains site. According to Olathe officials, there's no plan yet to develop the former mall site, which has been substantially demolished to prepare it for an eventual redevelopment.

The mayors of Oklahoma's two largest cities are opposing a proposed 1 percent sales tax to support public education, saying the increase is too costly to residents and could hamper their chances of passing future municipal bond packages.

Topeka's city government would take no financial risk under a proposal it will discuss to establish a tax increment financing district, says city finance director Brandon Kauffman. He said the proposal to establish the TIF district near S.W. 29th and Fairlawn Road would follow different rules than those governing the College Hill TIF District, which has proven costly to the city government since being established a decade ago.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the Oklahoma Water Resources Board nearly $11 million to fund clean water projects in the state. The agency said the money will go toward Oklahoma's Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund. The fund provides low-interest and flexible loans to communities to help them improve water quality and infrastructure.

The Intro Brownfields Finance Course is the industry's only comprehensive training curriculum that helps economic developers, policy makers and real estate professionals understand and master the financing strategies for the lifecycle of a brownfield property. During this course, attendees will walk through the entire brownfields redevelopment process from understanding the basics of brownfields and legal and regulatory challenges to unearthing the myriad financing tools available to both clean-up and build-up these contaminated or polluted sites.

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