Alabama

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., commissioners last week sent a new settlement offer to creditors holding $3.14 billion of defaulted variable- and auction-rate sewer warrants.

Ron Davis only recently found out about Central Falls' predicament."Somebody sent me an e-mail two days ago," Davis, the mayor of Prichard, Ala., said Thursday in a telephone interview.But his city of 23,000 residents along Alabama's Gulf Coast and the Rhode Island city in bankruptcy court, both with similar population sizes, have experienced major struggles with pension-debt gridlock.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Commissioners in Jefferson County, Ala., planned to meet Thursday to continue discussions about settling with creditors who own $3.14 billion of troubled sewer debt, or else file the largest-ever municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The Birmingham City Council Tuesday unanimously approved the issuance of $215 million of revenue bonds on behalf of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Attorneys representing Jefferson County and a financial adviser for Alabama told the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday that there is room for improving disclosure practices while striking a balance with the needs of financially struggling issuers.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., Thursday agreed to take the next week to review a counteroffer submitted by creditors holding $3.14 billion of variable- and auction-rate sewer warrants on which the government has defaulted.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jefferson County, Ala., on Tuesday hired a national bankruptcy law firm to help determine whether to proceed with the largest Chapter 9 filing ever in the United States.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Commissioners in Jefferson County, Ala., will again meet in a special closed-door session this week in Birmingham to discuss a wide range of issues, including the possibility of filing for municipal bankruptcy.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Commissioners in Jefferson County, Ala., hired the California law firm Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP as a consultant on strategies to resolve the county's financial crises.

Jefferson County, Ala., filed a brief notice with the bond market on Tuesday stating that it once again defaulted on its sewer warrants. The county said warrants were purchased by banks that entered into standby warrant purchase agreements.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County is asking creditors holding its $3.14 billion of defaulted variable- and auction-rate sewer warrants to take a haircut of $1.3 billion, the Birmingham News said Sunday.

WASHINGTON - Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro is expected to preside over a one-day hearing on the municipal securities market near Birmingham, Ala., in two weeks, sources said.

Jefferson County on Monday turned over sewer accounts containing about $60 million in revenue to the court-appointed receiver for the sewer system, according to the Birmingham News.

DALLAS — A Jefferson County, Ala., circuit judge on Friday gave total control over all finances of the county's sewer utility to the court-appointed receiver of the system, which is in default on more than $3 billion of revenue debt.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley softened his stance on supporting bankruptcy for Jefferson County last week, according to the Birmingham News.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., agreed not to file for bankruptcy in return for a 30-day "standstill" agreement under which the receiver for the county's sewer system will allow negotiations to resume over defaulted sewer debt and won't pursue a rate increase - at least for now.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Alabama court-appointed receiver in charge of managing Jefferson County's sewer system - as well as its defaulted warrants and swaps - is demanding that the county turn over $75 million from its general fund.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley last week signed the Fiscal Transparency Act into law enabling the public to view monthly reports on the Internet about the state's finances.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The fiscal distress in Jefferson County has elicited renewed calls from a financial analyst for investors to be cautious when buying debt sold by issuers from Alabama.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange Wednesday filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Jefferson County's sewer ratepayers in the receivership case involving the county's sewer system.