Law and legal issues

The Daughters of Charity Health System has reached an agreement with a private investment firm that will invest $250 million in the ailing California hospital nonprofit.

The Senate Finance Committee is pressing Treasury Secretary Jack Lew for positions on Puerto Rico, including whether it supports giving the troubled territory the ability to allow its public entities to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 9.

The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority is "optimistic" it can sell a bond by the end of August, raising money to repay a bank line and make capital improvements.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a new law securing revenues for general obligation bonds issued by local governments — a move designed to protect bondholders in a bankruptcy proceeding. But rating agencies have mixed feelings about whether it will be of much benefit to holders of local GOs in the nation's most populous state.

The Virginia Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. must dip into reserves to make interest payments this year, bondholders were told July 16.

A decade after being on the brink of bankruptcy, Buffalo, N.Y., is reinventing itself with a high-tech economy and is experiencing a renaissance.

Stockton, Calif., chief financial officer Vanessa Burke, who weathered the storm of the city's bankruptcy, has joined Urban Futures, Inc.'s public management team.

Jefferson County, Ala.'s planned return to the municipal market two years after exiting bankruptcy may prove challenging, especially if the bonds arrive without external support, municipal analysts and investors said this week.

Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., unveiled a bill on Wednesday to allow Puerto Rican public entities to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Mayor Stephen Reed "could not have acted alone," Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane said in announcing corruption charges.

Nebraska relies on Chapter 9 as a quick and easy way to restructure troubled special taxing district debt.

This month's $18.7 billion agreement with BP p.l.c. positions struggling Gulf coast states to receive financial relief, though the years-long payout won't provide immediate respite for some.

A New Jersey tax court ruling stating that one of its nonprofit hospitals is not exempt from property tax payments from 2006 to 2008 is unlikely to have implications in other states, according to Fitch Ratings.

Chicago's top lawyer and attorneys for unions and pension fund members laid out their arguments before the court Thursday.

A battle between Fresno Unified School District and a developer playing out in California courts could be costly for the state's school districts.

The House Judiciary Committee is unlikely to pass legislation that would give Puerto Rican public municipalities and utilities the ability to file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9, committee chair Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a Wednesday statement.

Months after the original private owner of the publicly owned toll road went bankrupt, the new owner, Australian fund manager fund IFM Investors, is set to complete the financing of its takeover bid next week.

Chicago and unions challenging its overhaul of the municipal and laborers’ pension funds square off in court Thursday with the city’s efforts to stabilize its rocky fiscal foundation at stake.

Conditions in Jefferson County, Ala. are improving after its bankruptcy exit and the county is preparing for its first municipal bond market appearance since its 2013 exit from bankruptcy, said County Commission President Jimmie Stephens.

Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger plans an appeal of a court decision barring her from meeting the full state payroll without a fiscal 2016 in place, a decision that ups pressure on state leaders to resolve a budget impasse.