Law and legal issues

Missouri economic development officials failed to conduct sufficient due diligence on the bond-financed artificial sweetener plant abandoned last year by a Chinese company, according to a new state audit.

The Los Angeles City Council appears likely to approve on Friday the environmental report and development agreement for a proposed $1.2 billion professional football stadium in downtown L.A. despite recent reports that AEG, the developer, is on the auction block.

The San Francisco Community College District is struggling to remain solvent and accredited, but holders of its $370 million of debt are well insulated.

Coalition for the Advancement of Regional Transportation is challenging the $2.6 billion Ohio River Bridges Project and wants a federal judge to order Kentucky and Indiana to stop work.

Benton Harbor, which is under state-controlled emergency financial management by Michigan, hopes to win a $7 million loan from the state to help stabilize its finances, according to local reports.

Local prosecutors in Lee County, Ill., last week filed dozens of felony theft charges against Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dixon as part of an ongoing local and federal probe into the former official, who is accused of pocketing more than $50 million in public funds to support a lavish lifestyle.

In the aftermath of the 38 Studios fiasco, a study calls for reorganizing the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. under a new commerce secretary.

A grand jury indicted the former controller for the New Mexico Finance Authority, Gregory M. Campbell, on charges of submitting a forged audit and circulating it to bond investors.

A state court ruling overturning portions of Wisconsin's controversial law curtailing collective bargaining rights could negatively impact local governments if it stands, Moody's warned.

Public hearings on the debt structure of the Harrisburg, Pa., incinerator retrofit project have been rescheduled for Oct. 4.

Former Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri took responsibility for his support of failed video game company 38 Studios but also blaming current governor Lincoln Chafee.

Harrisburg, Pa.'s mayor has requested a $6,500 increase in travel costs above what the City Council allocated her office in fiscal 2012.

Atwater, Calif., a city of more than 28,000 in Merced County in California's Central Valley, is considering declaring a fiscal emergency that would allow it to file for bankruptcy

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash Thursday morning granted Atlanta another 13 years to complete consent-related work on its massive sewer repair program.

Mayor Charles Moreau's resignation and guilty plea in a kickback scheme will help Central Falls, R.I., start anew after bankruptcy, but questions linger.

An auction is set for next month of the assets of the bond-financed, half-built artificial sweetener plant in Moberly, Missouri that was abandoned by its developer last year.

Fitch Rating analysts suggest three recent California bankruptcies could lead to more California cities filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

The mayor of Central Falls, R.I., resigned and agreed to plead guilty to corruption charges two weeks after the city's exit from bankruptcy protection.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled that a lawsuit challenging the Legislature's education budget cuts must go forward.

The judge overseeing Jefferson County's bankruptcy case has rejected requests to set a deadline for preparing a plan of adjustment.