Bankruptcy

BRADENTON, Fla. - Tax increment financing in Florida is back in limbo again.

The primary municipal bond market may have ground to a virtual halt, but yesterday marked the startup of the New Issue Information Dissemination System, which is designed to improve the accuracy and timeliness of information about new municipal securities issues that is disseminated to market participants.

BRADENTON, Fla. - As Jefferson County, Ala., was poised to default on its debt payments yesterday, a federal judge set a hearing for Friday in the lawsuit seeking to have a receiver appointed for the county's financially troubled sewer system.

WASHINGTON - The House yesterday rejected the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout package by a vote 228 to 205, stunning proponents of the measure and triggering huge losses in the markets after the Treasury earlier in the day detailed and opened its $50 billion temporary federal guaranty program for money market funds.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jefferson County, Ala., faces expiration of its latest forbearance agreements today and may default on some of its $3.2 billion of troubled sewer debt, most of which is in variable- and auction-rate securities.

WASHINGTON - Raymond James Financial Inc. confirmed Thursday that it will apply for bank holding company status, following the course taken last week by the larger investment banks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor today holds a second conference call with attorneys for Jefferson County, Ala., and the bond insurers and trustee who are seeking immediate appointment of a receiver for its troubled sewer system.

WASHINGTON - Could tax-exempt housing bonds help resolve the financial crisis?

The primary market will again be severely diminished this week as several new issues remain in limbo against a backdrop of continued weakness in municipals and intense anxiety in the overall financial markets as a result of last week's government takeover of Washington Mutual and the pending resolution by Congress of the $700 million financial industry rescue plan.

SAN FRANCISCO - The consolidation and reshaping of the U.S. financial industry landscape continued late last week, as JPMorgan Chase & Co. snapped up the assets of defunct Washington Mutual Inc.

Roosevelt & Cross Inc. did not fulfill a commitment to purchase $159.7 million of revenue anticipation notes and bond anticipation notes after it was unable to underwrite them last week, according to Kenneth Vetter, executive director for the issuer that tried to sell the debt, the Erie County, N.Y., Fiscal Stability Authority.

SAN FRANCISCO - Barclays Capital restarted Lehman Brothers Inc.'s municipal bond trading desk and remarketing operations yesterday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is restructuring its 15-member board and will have to elect two new securities-dealer representatives in the wake of the upheaval on Wall Street.

BRADENTON, Fla. - An emergency request seeking a receiver for Jefferson County, Ala.'s troubled sewer system should be denied because the bond insurers making the request have "manifestly unclean hands" and such a move would force the county into bankruptcy, Jefferson County attorneys said yesterday in documents filed in U.S. District Court.

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders and Bush administration officials appeared to move closer to a tentative agreement on the Treasury Department's proposed $700 billion bailout late yesterday. However, some Republicans made it clear they remained opposed to it and it was unclear if supporters would be able to get enough GOP support for the pact to push it through Congress.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board yesterday issued preliminary specifications for submitting electronic municipal bond offering documents to the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access system, as well as real-time subscriptions to primary market information posted on EMMA.

BRADENTON, Fla. - With less than a week until the expiration of forbearance agreements that delay some of Jefferson County, Ala.'s sewer bond debt payments, insurers and the county's bond trustee Tuesday filed an emergency motion for the appointment of a receiver for the sewer system.

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke struck a conciliatory tone yesterday, assuring members of the House Financial Services Committee both that the primary goal of their $700 billion bailout plan is to protect Americans at the "lunch-bucket" level and that the administration will need Congress' help and oversight with the plan.

WASHINGTON - A second nationally recognized municipal securities information repository has warned about the anticompetitive effects of the SEC's proposal to amend its Rule 15c2-12 to designate the MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access system as the muni market's central repository for continuing disclosures.

BRADENTON, Fla. - In what is the first case of its kind involving Jefferson County, Ala.'s troubled sewer system, a former county commissioner has agreed to plead guilty to one count of obstructing justice in connection with her involvement in the sewer bond deals.