Law and legal issues

Newly discovered meeting tapes may shed additional light on Scranton’s 2002 pension incentive, said Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.

State Treasurer Seth Magaziner and retired Superior Court Judge Frank Williams urged Rhode Island lawmakers to approve the pension overhaul lawsuit compromise.

Six Missouri lawmakers have filed a complaint aimed at preventing Gov. Jay Nixon from tapping revenues that go to repay debt on the St. Louis Rams’ stadium for a new professional football stadium without legislative or voter support.

Retired Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Frank Williams will mediate the lawsuit against now-defunct video game company 38 Studios.

A federal judge hears arguments Friday on whether the private All Aboard Florida passenger train project can issue $1.75 billion in private activity bonds.

A North Carolina anti-toll group wants a judge to proceed with its lawsuit in an attempt to stop the state’s Interstate 77 toll project for which the P3 contract was finalized May 20.

Australian fund manager IFM Investors has paid $5.72 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road for 66 years, marking the largest privatization for an existing U.S. asset and the first time major US pension funds have invested in American infrastructure.

A new report identified five struggling Chicago-area suburbs as most vulnerable to a Chapter 9 filing if state law is changed to permit it.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found fault with Maryland's personal income tax collection scheme will cost localities in the state millions of dollars but may not impact their credit ratings, analysts and government officials said.

El Paso Children’s Hospital's bankruptcy filing led to board resignations and the threat of a rating downgrade, though $120 million of bonds appear well secured by a general obligation pledge.

Work on North Carolina’s Interstate 77 express toll lane project will begin this summer with a lawsuit pending and over recent objections filed by some communities.

San Bernardino, Calif. enters the final stage of its Chapter 9 bankruptcy with a plan for its pension obligation bondholders to take it on the chin.

A measure to overhaul Cook County’s troubled pension system advanced in the Illinois legislature, but the state Supreme Court’s recent pension ruling continues to cast a pall over the county’s efforts.

El Paso Children’s Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 19 after negotiations over a debt to county-owned University Medical Center fell apart, officials said.

Nearly two weeks after the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2013 pension overhaul, state lawmakers, local government leaders, and legal experts struggle for an alternative the court would accept.

San Bernardino, Calif. is now planning to give bondholders significantly worse treatment than they have received in any municipal bankruptcy to date, Moody’s Investors Service said in a comment piece.

A former Oklahoma lawmaker is seeking to have $2 billion of budget bills from the past three years declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Florida’s private passenger train developer has hired Miami-based contractor Archer Western to upgrade a 66-mile segment of rail infrastructure between Miami and West Palm Beach.

California charter school chain Magnolia Public Schools will rekindle its growth plans after settling a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District, which had tried to shut down Magnolia’s schools there.

Moody’s Investors Service labeled the Illinois Supreme Court’s voiding of the state’s 2013 pension system overhaul a “credit negative” for the state’s A3 bond rating.