Bankruptcy

DALLAS — An environmental lawsuit by the Sierra Club could impede bond issuance for one section of a 170-mile toll loop around the Houston area known as the Grand Parkway.

Gov. Rick Snyder last week asked the Michigan Supreme Court to rule on a lawsuit that targets the state's controversial emergency-management law.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed a proposed rule with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require muni advisors to establish supervisory systems to ensure they and their "associated persons" comply with SEC and MSRB rules.

A 2011 bill transferring $101.7 million from a highway transportation revolving fund into the general fund was constitutional, Oklahoma solicitor general Patrick Wyrick contended last week in a hearing before a state Supreme Court referee.

CHICAGO - A trio of nonprofit hospitals in the Chicago area, including the prominent Northwestern Memorial's Prentice Women's Hospital, are expected to appeal the Illinois Department of Revenue's decision earlier this week to deny them their property-tax exemptions for failing to provide sufficient charity care.

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday ordered an investigation into the finances of the troubled city of Vernon.

Bond insurer CIFG Assurance NA sued Goldman, Sachs & Co. and M&T Bank Tuesday for fraud and breach of contract involving its commitment to guarantee $275 million of mortgage-backed securities.

A ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June handing Georgia a victory over drinking water withdrawal rights from tributaries in the Atlanta area may be in jeopardy. Alabama and Florida last week asked the appellate court to reconsider its ruling in the so-called water war between the states that has gone on well over a decade.

The AARP joined with two other senior-citizen groups to file a friend of the court brief to the Michigan Supreme Court last week, arguing that the state’s new law taxing retirement income is unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON — The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined eight firms a total of $120,000 and asked two to pay almost $6,000 in restitution to customers for violating muni pricing, gift, trade, fair-dealing, and supervisory rules.

The dominoes continue to fall in Rhode Island as Moody’s Investors Service downgraded East Providence to Baa1 from A1, while on the same day it lowered to A2 from Aa3 the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corp.’s revenue bond financing program.

CHICAGO - One day after being accused of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for its role in advising five Wisconsin school districts on a risky investment scheme, Stifel Financial Corp. said it has finalized an agreement to purchase $162.5 million of school district-supported notes from Depfa Bank Plc.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The small city of Brighton, Ala., has defaulted on general obligation warrants it issued in 2003.

CHICAGO - Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and a former senior executive fraudulently misled five Wisconsin school districts by steering them into unsuitably risky and complex investment products to fund their non-pension retirement obligations, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged in a complaint filed Wednesday.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., commissioners may decide Friday whether to file for bankruptcy if creditors holding $3.14 billion of troubled sewer debt do not agree to accept the county's final offer to restructure the debt.

WASHINGTON - A bond lawyer group said Wednesday that while issuers technically do not have to file material event notices on rating changes for pre-refunded bonds that have been legally defeased by an escrow of U.S. Treasuries, they can easily file such notices with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA system.

Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson warned that without a fiscal recovery plan in place, Pennsylvania's capital city would be unable to pay its nearly 500 workers in mid-September.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The federal judge presiding over a Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit permanently enjoined former Jefferson County, Ala., commission president Larry Langford from violating securities laws in the future.

DALLAS - A lawsuit filed before the Texas Supreme Court seeks to strike down the state's tax on business, claiming it violates the constitution's prohibition on levying a personal income tax without voter approval.

Three unions that represent employees in the Detroit Public Schools system filed a federal lawsuit over a 10% pay cut and new requirement that employees pay 20% of their health care costs.