Law and legal issues

The Harrisburg, Pa., City Council has launched another legal attempt to fight receivership in Pennsylvania's distressed capital city.

The Stockton, Calif. City Council voted Tuesday night to file for bankruptcy as part of a plan to try to keep the city solvent after city officials said negotiations with creditors failed.

Members of East St. Louis' elected school board last week mounted a legal challenge to Illinois' decision to take over the troubled district and disband the local board, according to published reports.

Stockton's City Council will consider whether it will become the largest city ever to file for bankruptcy protection Tuesday night after negotiations with creditors ended on Monday.

While the Governmental Accounting Standards Board's new accounting standards announced Monday will improve financial reporting for public pension plans they also will put added pressure on cash-strapped state and local governments to reform their systems.

Attorneys representing various public-sector employees argue in Rhode Island Superior Court that the reversal of signed contracts was illegally unilateral.

Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty sued the city council, urging a Lackawanna County, Pa., court to force a recovery plan to keep his city from going broke.

California retirement system officials have further cut the benefits of two former top Bell employees now facing corruption charges.

Unions opposed to San Diego's recent overwhelming vote to reform its pension system won two legal victories this week.

Stockton, Calif. has proposed a plan to slash more than $10 million of debt payments to balance its budget while at the same time declaring bankruptcy, if negotiations with creditors fail by Monday's deadline.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled Thursday to consider whether it will review the so-called water war case between Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

Tampa Bay Water's governing board Monday decided to move forward with an appeal in its suit challenging what it believes is a faulty reservoir design.

Detroit will pay yields ranging from 1.72% to 5.30% on $667 million of new-money and refunding sewer revenue bonds that the city's sewer department priced Wednesday.

Jefferson County residents complain that creditors holding $3.14 billion of defaulted sewer warrants helped push the county into Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy.

A Franklin County appeals court last week dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block JobsOhio, a new private nonprofit firm that seeks to purchase Ohio’s liquor distribution system for $1.2 billion.

The Little Rock, Ark., Board of Directors last week approved a series of four rate increases for the Little Rock Wastewater Utility through 2016 to finance construction of facilities needed to comply with a 2001 lawsuit settlement.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered five firms — Neuberger Berman, Lawson Financial, Edward D. Jones, Estrada Hinojosa and UVEST Financial — to pay a total of nearly $120,000 in fines and restitution for violations of municipal securities rules.

Moody's Investors Service pushed Detroit further down into junk-bond territory over escalating political risks that challenge the beleaguered city's ability to give its fiscal consent agreement with Michigan enough time to stabilize the city's finances.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The National Environmental Policy Act was violated when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved Georgia’s Vogtle nuclear plant licensing, environmentalists have argued in a federal appeal.

An Ingham County, Mich., Circuit Court judge threw out a lawsuit challenging Detroit's consent agreement with Michigan, allowing the city to narrowly avert a cash crisis that threatened its ability to make a Friday bond payment.