Bankruptcy

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., disclosed what is believed to be the county's first missed payment to owners of its sewer warrants after defaulting on $46 million of accelerated principal that was due last week.

As California officials begin to issue as much as $3.2 billion of IOUs, there is growing interest in whether the registered warrants should be considered securities or some other type of state obligation.

Kutak Rock LLP last month hired Jeffrey Blumenfeld in its Philadelphia office.

BRADENTON, Fla. - A federal judge in Birmingham late Monday said that Jefferson County, Ala.'s bond insurers and trustee are free to file suit July 20 in state court seeking to have a receiver take over the county's financially troubled sewer system.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Standard & Poor's Monday continued its negative watch on Jefferson County, Ala.'s outstanding debt, though not including the county's troubled sewer bonds.

Employees of a joint-venture broker-dealer, who previously worked for and remain "associated persons" with the two legacy firms that created and control the joint venture, may solicit municipal securities business on behalf of each of their legacy firms without triggering Rule's G-38 prohibition against broker-dealers using independent consultants, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said in recent guidance.

WASHINGTON - Moody's Investors Service has placed $2.2 billion of the Maryland Community Development Administration's Aa2-rated residential revenue bonds on watch for a possible downgrade.

SAN FRANCISCO - Fitch Ratings downgraded California's general obligation bonds two notches to BBB from A-minus yesterday, pushing the state's lease-backed debt to the lowest investment grade, BBB-minus.

SAN FRANCISCO - California IOUs will pay a 3.75% annualized interest rate to the creditors who receive them, the state's Pooled Money Investment Board decided last week. The interest is tax-exempt.

WASHINGTON - Primary and secondary market trading for Build America Bonds totaled $23 billion on 30,633 trades, according to a report released Thursday by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.

SAN FRANCISCO - California is poised to begin paying some bills with IOUs today after efforts to pass budget-balancing legislation before a Tuesday night deadline failed.

SAN FRANCISCO - The El Monte, Calif., City Council decided not to declare bankruptcy after winning concessions from public employees to balance its 2009-2010 budget on Tuesday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority yesterday announced that it has launched three fact-finding sweeps tied to the municipal securities market, including an enforcement sweep to examine firms' potential conflicts, disclosure practices, and marketing of derivatives to small and unsophisticated municipalities.

DALLAS - Two developers pleaded guilty to federal charges that they bribed Dallas officials to approve low-income apartment projects financed with tax-exempt private-activity bonds.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Bank of New York Mellon said in a court filing late Monday that it would file suit in Alabama state court to push for a receiver for Jefferson County's sewer system, which is plagued by more than $3.2 billion of troubled variable- and auction-rate debt.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Government Accounting Standards Board last week issued an exposure draft on new accounting standards for bankrupt municipalities.

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court late last week unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that Vallejo, Calif., is eligible for bankruptcy protection.

DALLAS - Arizona lawmakers tried to hurry a budget compromise through the Legislature before today's deadline, but legislative leaders and Gov. Jan Brewer prepared for a partial shutdown of the government in case the measure does not pass.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Speculation about whether Jefferson County, Ala., might file for bankruptcy rose to new heights late last week when Alabama's high court refused to allow the financially ailing county to spend occupational tax revenues while appealing a lower-court ruling that struck down the tax earlier this year.

WASHINGTON - Ronald Stack is leaving Barclays Capital to join Wells Fargo & Co., where he will head the northeast group in their public finance department, sources said.Stack, who is chairman of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board this year, has been a managing director at Barclays and head of the firm's New York state underwriting business since last fall after Lehman Brothers collapsed and Barclays bought its North American sales, trading, research, and investment banking businesses.