Bond Rating Downgrade and Kinky Friedman: Tuesday’s Show (March 22, 2016)

Moody’s Investors Service last week (March 16, 2016) downgraded the city of Houston’s bond rating, citing low oil prices, falling sales tax revenues, unfunded pension obligations, and property tax caps among the reasons.

On this edition of Houston Matters, we discuss how the city’s rating drop from Aa2 to Aa3 may affect some $3 billion in previously issued bonds and why the city may need more money to repay its debt. We welcome your questions for University of Houston Economics Professor Steven Craig and Marc Watts, who chairs the Greater Houston Partnership’s Municipal Finance Task Force.

Also this hour: The Houston Housing Authority wants to build an apartment complex on the 2600 block of Fountain View Drive, a few blocks west of The Galleria. But some area residents oppose it. We discuss the arguments for and against the project with Houston Chronicle real estate reporter Erin Mulvaney.

Then: A study by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center suggests doctors are overburdened processing electronic health record notifications. We talk with Drs. Daniel Murphy and Hardeep Singh about their research and its implications for patient safety.

Plus: A conversation with singer/songwriter, satirist, and sometimes political candidate Kinky Friedman, who performs Saturday (March 26, 2016) at The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston.

Houston Matters offers a free daily, downloadable podcast here, on iTunes, Stitcher and various other podcasting apps.