Alabama

BRADENTON, Fla. — Jefferson County, Ala., must restructure its troubled debt or take “other significant reorganization activities,” according to the county’s first audit in three years.

Jefferson County will not ask the Alabama Supreme Court for a rehearing on its occupational tax ruling, the Birmingham News reported Tuesday.

A federal trial challenging Alabama’s school-funding formula started Monday in Huntsville before Judge Lynwood Smith. The suit was filed two years ago by parents in rural north Alabama counties who claim that state funding for the public education system is based on a discriminatory formula that includes the lowest property-tax rate in the country.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Alabama Supreme Court Wednesday struck down an occupational tax that provided one-third of Jefferson County’s general fund revenues, potentially setting the stage for the county to file for the largest municipal bankruptcy in history.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider the appeals of former Jefferson County commissioner Chris McNair and several contractors who were convicted on bribery charges related to the county’s sewer system.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Alabama Education Association, its political action committee, and five individuals have filed a federal suit challenging some of the ethics reform laws passed by the state Legislature in a mid-December special session.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Birmingham Commercial Development Authority is selling $72.02 million of revenue bonds Tuesday to finance a hotel and entertainment district in an effort by Alabama’s most populous city to attract larger conventions.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Nearly a year after beginning a 15-year sentence for pay-to-play crimes, former Jefferson County Commission President Larry Langford will get another day in court.

The Alabama Medicaid Agency will receive a $55 million federal performance bonus for implementing methods to enroll low-income children in the health insurance program in fiscal 2010, Gov. Bob Riley announced Monday.

The Jefferson County Commission wants to end its investment advisory services contracts and appoint an in-house committee to do the work, according to the Birmingham News.

A firm associated with a former JPMorgan banker being pursued in a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case for alleged pay-to-play charges involving Jefferson County, Ala., was fired on Christmas Eve from a pension consulting job in Florida after Charles LeCroy's legal problems came to light.

Alabama federal Judge Keith Watkins accepted a settlement Monday ending a two-year-old lawsuit involving swaptions between the Alabama Public School and College Authority and JPMorgan.

BRADENTON, Fla. — After struggling against Alabama Democrats much of his eight years in office, outgoing Republican Gov. Bob Riley finally won passage of bills strengthening ethics and curbing corruption among politicians in the state.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Jefferson County can continue to collect an occupational and business license tax while appealing a lower court decision that it's unconstitutional.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Cullman ­Regional Medical Center in Alabama, has had its ratings dropped to below investment grade by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service about a year after refinancing all its bonds.

An Alabama circuit court judge last week ruled unconstitutional an occupational and business license tax that provides a major source of income for Jefferson County's general fund budget. Commissioners are appealing the decision, the Birmingham News reported.

Outgoing Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has called a special session of the Legislature to deal with ethics reform that he has sought, but failed to pass, during his eight years in office when Democrats were in the majority.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Birmingham Airport Authority, which operates the largest airport in Alabama, expects to be in the municipal market next week to offer new-money bonds for the first time in several years.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Seven months after the largest oil spill in U.S. history, the credit ratings of state and local government bond issuers in the Gulf Coast region have remained stable, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

A new county commission in Jefferson County, Ala., will be seated Wednesday and is entrusted with resolving the continuing saga of how to deal with nearly $3.2 billion of variable- and auction-rate sewer warrants.