[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')rizona, which sold state prisons and offices to raise cash six months ago, plans to borrow $300 million by marketing its Supreme Court building and about a dozen more properties through leaseback bonds starting today.

Investors will hold ownership of the court building in Phoenix, the fifth-largest U.S. city, and the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in Tucson for as much as 20 years, with the securities maturing serially from 2012 through 2029, according to offering documents. Lease payments will back the debt, known as certificates of participation.

Arizona, whose foreclosure rate last year was ranked second-highest after Nevada by RealtyTrac Inc., will use the sale to pay for three months of school aid. The state raised $709 million for education payments when it sold and then leased back nine properties to investors in January.

[Cloud9]

Hope is a human condition that sometimes enables us to walk through fire, other times it causes us to sit in the oven until we are cooked. Arizona is living on hope. They are waiting on a miracle. They have hocked the family jewelry to pay the rent.