Law and legal issues

DALLAS - The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a voter-approved constitutional amendment that eliminated the interest cap on state and local bonds.

The Las Vegas Monorail has been given court permission to send its bankruptcy-exit plan to creditors for a vote.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has delayed seeking the City Council's approval to declare a fiscal emergency and for a fall ballot measure for fiscal and pension reform.

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Alabama court-appointed receiver in charge of managing Jefferson County's sewer system - as well as its defaulted warrants and swaps - is demanding that the county turn over $75 million from its general fund.

As one dramatic chapter in Regions Financial Corp.'s history ends, another is about to begin.

NEW YORK - Harrisburg’s City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night requesting Mayor Linda Thompson to prepare for a bankruptcy filing, should Pennsylvania’s capital city not receive approval for a financial recovery plan proposed last week.

SAN FRANCISCO - Although Los Angeles is living through hard times, it's far from insolvency, the city's top budget official says.

Bank policyholders suing the New York Insurance Department and MBIA Inc. say new documents made available to the public show MBIA senior executives concealed critical information from the NYID about the size of future losses at MBIA Insurance Corp.

DALLAS - The financial trouble surrounding Glendale, Ariz.'s $180 million bond-financed hockey arena appears to be worsening as the adjoining Westgate City Center retail and entertainment complex faces the threat of foreclosure.

BRADENTON, Fla. — The fiscal distress in Jefferson County has elicited renewed calls from a financial analyst for investors to be cautious when buying debt sold by issuers from Alabama.

The Michigan Supreme Court last week accepted Gov. Rick Snyder's request to hear a case regarding the constitutionality of taxing retirement income.

The Financial Regulatory Industry Authority fined Wells Fargo Advisors LLC $13,000 and ordered it to pay restitution of almost $8,628 to a municipal customer for violating pricing and fair-dealing rules.

Central Falls, R.I., received more bad news: The 2012 budget plan approved by the state House Finance Committee eliminated $6.7 million in aid to the struggling community.

DALLAS - Amid prolonged uncertainty and threats of a lawsuit, Glendale, Ariz., has called off plans to issue $100 million of certificates of participation to finance the sale of the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes to private investor Matthew Hulsizer.

An attorney seeking to overturn a state constitutional amendment that removed the interest rate cap on Arkansas state and municipal bonds said the measure should never have been put on the November 2010 ballot.

Warning about a "heightened potential" for a default this summer and greater risk that Central Falls, R.I., cannot stabilize a pension plan without filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, Moody’s Investors Service on Friday downgraded the city’s general obligation rating one level to Caa1 from B3, affecting about $20.8 million of outstanding debt.

CHICAGO — A Michigan city in receivership paid interest rates in the 6% range to sell a chunk of financial recovery bonds last week.

Northern Berkshire Healthcare Inc., unable to restructure $43 million in secured bond debt, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

BRADENTON, Fla. - Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange Wednesday filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Jefferson County's sewer ratepayers in the receivership case involving the county's sewer system.

The Nassau County Interim Finance Authority Thursday hired accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP to review the Long Island, N.Y., county's troubled finances.