Alabama

BRADENTON, Fla. — Former Jefferson County, Ala., commissioner Mary Buckelew will serve no prison time for lying to a grand jury about expensive gifts and spa treatments she received to influence her vote in connection with $3.2 billion of debt and swaps sold for the county’s sewer system.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Former Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford has filed a motion for new trial on pay-to-play charges and requested that the judge set aside his conviction because, among other reasons, the jury didn’t deliberate long enough.

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that it has settled securities fraud and other charges against JPMorgan Securities Inc. and is pursuing charges against two of the firm’s former managing directors, Charles LeCroy and Douglas MacFaddin, in connection with muni bond and swap transactions done with Jefferson County, Ala.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley Friday announced the allocation of the first half of $236 million of qualified school construction bonds to help 46 school systems that applied to the program to finance the construction or repair of public school buildings.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Birmingham’s current budget is underfunded by $20 million, the new acting mayor announced yesterday in a disclosure that could lead to a review of the Alabama city’s double-A credit rating.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Birmingham, Ala., finance director Steve Sayler resigned late Monday, a city official confirmed.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Burdened by millions in unfunded pension obligations, Prichard, Ala., on Tuesday filed notice in federal court of its intention to enter Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy — for a second time.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Larry Langford, convicted on 60 bond-related corruption felony charges late Wednesday, was removed from office as Birmingham’s mayor.

BRADENTON, Fla. — ­Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford was convicted on 60 federal charges, nearly all related to his tenure as president of the Jefferson County Commission when $3.2 billion of sewer debt was refinanced.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The pay-to-play corruption trial of Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford began last Monday in Tuscaloosa, and before the week ended two of the government’s star witnesses described their roles in bribing Langford while he was president of the Jefferson County commission.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The long-awaited pay-to-play trial of Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Larry Langford is slated to start Monday with jury selection.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Alabama Public School and College Authority next week plans to sell $775.8 million of revenue bonds, much of which will refund outstanding debt associated with swap options that the issuer is challenging in federal court.

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance extending the city’s lease with the Birmingham Airport Authority giving it nine more years to operate Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport and allowing it to issue debt for improvements.

Bill Johnson, a Republican candidate for governor in Alabama, said he plans to propose that the state create a Bond and Public Financing Oversight Commission.

Fitch Ratings Tuesday downgraded $236 million of outstanding Alabama State Port Authority revenue bonds to BBB-plus from A-minus and said the outlook is stable.

A federal judge in Birmingham has set Nov. 12 as the new date that former Jefferson County commissioner Mary Buckelew will be sentenced for obstruction of justice for lying to a federal grand jury about receiving gifts from Montgomery-based bond dealer William Blount when the county’s sewer debt was refinanced in 2002 and 2003.