Bankruptcy

The attorney representing the Harrisburg, Pa., City Council in its bankruptcy appeal filed a counterclaim Monday against the state, mayor and Dauphin County, all which sought damages against him two weeks ago.

Witnesses representing public power providers who testified before the House Committee on Natural Resources Thursday expressed grave concerns that Department of Energy proposals would increase costs and fundamentally alter the public power market.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled on Wednesday that California Controller John Chiang does not have the authority to dock lawmakers pay for late budgets.

A defense attorney in the municipal bond bid-rigging trial in New York on Thursday interrogated a government witness about his memory, and even his drinking.

A federal judge in Birmingham Monday said that a portion of Jefferson County’s sewer system could be removed from the county’s 1996 consent decree for violations of the Clean Water Act.

Mayor Angel Taveras' $638.4 million budget proposal for distressed Providence, R.I., hinges on two large variables: court or union approval of pension overhaul at the local level and greater contributions in lieu of taxes from nonprofit agencies.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents last week arrested Dixon, Ill., Comptroller Rita Crundwell for allegedly defrauding the city of more than $3.2 million in public funds since last fall and misappropriating $30 million since 2006, federal prosecutors in Chicago announced.

A California state court judge on Thursday appointed a receiver to manage the transfer of three parking garages in Stockton from city control to Wells Fargo NA, the trustee on $30 million of defaulted bonds.

Over the last four years there has been an "embryonic trend" of municipal bankruptcies, in the words of Arent Fox partner David Dubrow. These include Vallejo, Calif., Central Falls, R.I., Harrisburg, Pa., and Jefferson County, Ala.

Municipal bond issuers now may be more open to declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on loan payments, panelists said at the National Federation of Municipal Analysts annual meeting here Thursday.

The tale of the tape continued Wednesday in the municipal bond bid-rigging trial in Manhattan, as prosecutors, interspersing audio tapes and transcripts with bid documents, called to the stand another former employee of brokerage CDR Financial Services, seeking to establish a pattern of fraud by three former executives of General Electric Co. subsidiaries.

U.S. Bank NA on Tuesday notified holders of the Connector 2000 Association Inc.’s 2011 toll revenue term bonds that an exchange of bonds will take place around May 31.

Tampa Bay Water, a regional supplier for three counties on the west coast of Florida, is expected to ask for a new trial after losing a $100 million civil suit last week for what it claimed was a faulty reservoir design, according to published reports.

The federal judge overseeing the Jefferson County, Ala., bankruptcy case has set deadlines for creditors to file proof of claims.

The federal prosecutors in a municipal bond bid-rigging trial that began in New York accused three executives of fraud that cost cities and towns, and the IRS, millions of dollars.

BRADENTON, Fla. — South Carolina federal bankruptcy Judge David Duncan last week approved a plan allowing investors who want to trade their Connector 2000 Association term bonds to exchange them.

A preliminary Travis County state district court ruling on whether oil and gas drilling and production equipment is exempt from the Texas sales tax could cost the state millions of dollars a year in lost revenues and billions more in refunds.

A bankruptcy court judge in Chicago will be asked next week to approve a $53.5 million cash offer to purchase the assets of the Clare at Water Tower continuing-care community in a deal that provides holders of the facility’s $229 million of debt with a recovery rate of at least 20 cents on the dollar, sources said.

Providence dropped retired Supreme Court Justice Robert Flanders as an advisor after he said the capital city was headed to bankruptcy court.

Former Maine Turnpike Authority executive director Paul Violette has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for misusing as much as $230,000 in agency funds.