Bankruptcy

SAN FRANCISCO — The Asian Art Museum is struggling to recover its financial footing while renegotiating its debt with creditors.

CHICAGO — Officials in Hamtramck, Mich., said they would try to set up a meeting with state Treasurer Robert Kleine in a fresh effort to win permission to file for bankruptcy.

The scandal-plagued city of Bell agreed to appoint a monitor to oversee its operations and finances.

New York attorney general and Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo sued former Quadrangle Group principal Steven Rattner Thursday over his alleged role in a widespread kickback scheme to obtain investments from New York’s largest pension fund, the $135 billion Common Retirement Fund.

SAN FRANCISCO — Vallejo City Council members are weighing a contentious budget plan as the California city struggles to emerge from Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — A lawsuit filed Tuesday by opponents of California’s plans to sell 11 state office buildings for one-time revenue resulted in a one-day delay to the state’s plans to sell $12 billion of notes and bonds this week.

CHICAGO — Michigan officials Wednesday said they denied a request by the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck for permission to file for bankruptcy.

WASHINGTON — The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed guidance for broker’s brokers would force them to go beyond the board’s existing rules, would be inconsistent with their limited roles in the market, and would impede the efficiency of the interdealer market, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association warned the MSRB this week.

CHICAGO — A Detroit legislator was poised Wednesday to sponsor a package of bills that would allow Michigan to securitize up to $400 million of its tobacco settlement payments to erase the deficits carried by Detroit Public Schools and 41 other state school districts.

WASHINGTON — The ­Securities and Exchange Commission would violate the Tower Amendment and the principles of federalism if it applies its proposed rules on asset-backed securities to municipal bonds, 14 market groups warned this week.

Pittsburgh City Council President Darlene Harris Tuesday introduced a resolution that would direct additional parking-fee revenue into the city’s pension fund to help boost its funding level and ward off a potential state takeover.

WASHINGTON — A special ethics panel has found New York Rep. Charles Rangel, former Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, guilty on 11 of 13 ethics charges, the panel announced Tuesday.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox last Saturday approved the $1.5 billion sale of the Detroit Medical Center to a for-profit Tennessee-based health care company. The deal awaits federal approval and is expected to close Dec. 31.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Kildare Capital Inc. $25,000 for failing to timely report municipal securities transactions and other rule violations.

Dealer and non-dealer municipal advisers have until Dec. 31 to register with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board under a new system launched Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO — A public employee union is suing to block a California public-private partnership that would design, build, operate, and maintain a six-lane link between San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Defunct bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. reported positive net income for the first three quarters of the year, but said near-term insolvency is still a concern if its insured portfolio ­tumbles.

The Harrisburg Authority Monday night is set to vote on allocating up to $3 million to the city of Harrisburg that, if approved, would give Pennsylvania’s capital a much-needed liquidity boost.

A New York judge ruled last week that opponents of the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn will be able to reargue their case that the Empire State Development Corp. violated the state’s environmental quality review act.

WASHINGTON — The Government Finance Officers Association is asking the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to more clearly explain the importance of its proposal to nearly double the transaction fees it collects from dealers in order to pay for its development of its EMMA system as well as its new oversight of municipal advisers.