California muni bond newsletter returns after hiatus

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The California Municipal Bond Advisor, a 26-year-old newsletter covering the state’s tax-free muni market and written for individual investors, is resuming publication after a five-month hiatus.

That will bring back a source of independent analysis in a muni market that has been in upheaval over the last three months.

Dennis Walters, who edits the monthly newsletter, said he was forced to suspend publication after the August issue because of personal issues affecting some of his small staff. Once the hiatus began, Walters said, another problem arose: He began to hear from ‘subscribers who weren’t in fact subscribers’ -- people who were getting the newsletter free from others who were redistributing it without authorization.

In a letter to subscribers mailed over the weekend, Walters said the stolen-content issue ‘is being dealt with through appropriate avenues.’

Walters, 54, also said he has reached an agreement with a larger publishing company to help with technology and back-office issues in producing the newsletter.

One of the Advisor’s strengths over the years has been its detailed coverage of specific bond issues in California, including bonds that have fallen into default -- which mostly are small issues that otherwise don’t get much media attention.

The newsletter costs $149 a year. Walters said current subscribers will have their subscriptions extended to make up for the months that were lost.

The Advisor’s website, which Walters began to update over the weekend, is californiabondadvisor.com.

-- Tom Petruno