Bankruptcy

Gov. Chris Christie Thursday announced that the New Jersey Transit Authority hired the Washington law firm Patton Boggs LLP to help the state challenge the Federal Transit Administration’s demand that it repay $271 million in federal money the state spent on a canceled commuter-rail tunnel.

WASHINGTON ­— The central issue for Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board members gathered for a special meeting Thursday and Friday at their Alexandria, Va., headquarters is how the self-regulator will oversee municipal advisers.

VALLEJO — The Vallejo City Council unanimously approved a financial blueprint Tuesday night to exit California’s largest municipal bankruptcy in more than a decade.

Bond attorney and longtime market participant Linda Grant Williams has secured a patent on an alternative credit structure that is designed to lower interest rates on special facility bonds for ­airports.

Changes to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 15c2-12 designed to both increase the quantity and timeliness of issuers’ continuing disclosures take effect Wednesday and strongly encourage issuers of variable-rate demand obligations to use so-called long-form disclosure in their offering documents.

WASHINGTON — James Hertz, a former vice president and marketer in JPMorgan’s municipal derivatives group, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three criminal counts for engaging in bid-rigging and fraud conspiracies connected with guaranteed investment contracts and other municipal finance agreements, the Justice Department announced.

SAN FRANCISCO — City Council members in Vallejo, Calif., will judge a long-term budget plan Tuesday that outlines a way for the bankrupt city to crawl back into the black.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Hawaii and Citi have announced a legal settlement that will allow the state to exit from its $869 million auction-rate securities portfolio within five years.

Market participants remain divided over the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's draft proposal to prohibit dealers from underwriting new negotiated or competitive bond deals if they served as the issuer's financial adviser.

The controversy over the Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn spawned lawsuits, protests — and now a theater production.

Former political adviser Hank Morris last week pleaded guilty in a pay-to-play kickback scheme involving the New York State pension fund.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court has handed down a ruling that reaffirms the use of certificates of participation in the state, according to attorneys.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Railsplitter Tobacco Settlement Authority yesterday received A-level ratings from Standard & Poor’s on its $1.46 billion issue of tax-exempt tobacco bonds set for next week.

The Camden County, N.J. , Pollution Control Financing Authority will tap into various dedicated funds to avoid defaulting on $26.1 million of incinerator debt due Dec. 1.

Moody’s Investors Service Tuesday revised Pittsburgh’s outlook to negative from stable as Pennsylvania’s second-largest city may face large pension contribution increases if its retirement fund falls under state oversight.

Lake County officials said they plan to sue the state next month over a law requiring the county to adopt a 1% local option income tax in order to lift a freeze on its property tax revenue.

A Cook County Circuit Court judge earlier this month denied Chicago’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that challenges the legality of its $1.15 billion, 75-year lease of its parking meter system to Chicago Parking Meters LLC.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Clay Gas Utility District of Clay County, Tenn., filed a notice last week saying that it has not made scheduled principal and interest payments on its bonds since 2000.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is warning the Securities and Exchange Commission that applying its asset-backed securities rules to municipal bonds, as proposed, would violate existing law and run contrary to congressional intent.

Ambac Assurance Corp. is close to reaching a settlement that would wipe away more than $500 million of exposure to revenue bonds issued by the Nevada Department of Business and Industry for the Las Vegas Monorail, according to its regulator Thursday.