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Chicago Cubs file Chapter 11 to speed team's sale - (news.yahoo.com/s/ap) The Chicago Cubs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday, a step that will allow their owner to sell the baseball team in an $845 million deal. The filing in Wilmington, Del., was anticipated and is expected to lead to a brief stay in Chapter 11 for the Cubs. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in front of the judge who has been handling the bankruptcy of the Cubs' owner, Tribune Co. The Cubs' filing is part of the Tribune Co.'s plans to sell the team,Wrigley Field and related properties to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, the founder of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade. Tribune, which also owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, filed for bankruptcy protection in December, but the Cubs were not covered in the filing. The team's run through Chapter 11 could last mere days, enough to protect its new owners from potential claims by Tribune creditors, said Ira Herman, a bankruptcy attorney with Thompson & Knight. Tribune bought the Cubs in 1981 for $20.5 million from candy maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. Tribune announced plans to sell the franchise in 2007, but got tripped up by the recession and the collapse of the credit markets. It has agreed to sell the Ricketts family a 95 percent stake in a deal that tops the record $660 million paid for the Boston Red Sox and its related properties in 2002. Tribune Co. is keeping the remaining 5 percent. Major League Baseball's other owners have approved the sale. The Cubs' bankruptcy filing is not the first in baseball. The Baltimore Orioles were sold in a bankruptcy auction in 1993 after owner Eli Jacobs filed for Chapter 11. The same happened to the Seattle Pilots after the 1969 season. The new owners moved the team to Milwaukee and changed the name to the Brewers. The National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes, a franchise that has yet to make a profit since moving from Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1996, filed for Chapter 11 protection in May.
Some CA state retirees rake in pensions and paychecks - (www.latimes.com) Thousands who have returned to public service in California, including eight legislators, receive their retirement benefits and a salary. The practice has raised concerns. As California's public retirement funds reel from losses of nearly $100 billion in recent years and lack enough cash to cover their long-term costs, thousands of state employees are collecting government pension checks along with their paychecks. John Benoit, a Republican state senator from Palm Desert and a former California Highway Patrol captain, is one. He draws a $98,600 annual state pension while also collecting a six-figure salary as a lawmaker. David Turner retired as a state fire chief in 2004, went back to work for the state firefighting agency two days later and is still employed there. He collected $65,229 in salary in the last fiscal year in addition to a state pension of $105,000. Paul W. Anderson is a psychiatrist at Napa State Hospital who retired two years ago from the state Department of Mental Health. His pension is $117,840. He also received $104,200 in state wages in the last fiscal year. State records show that more than 5,600 others are drawing double checks, a figure 57% higher than a decade ago. Meanwhile, billions of dollars -- $3.3 billion in this fiscal year alone -- are being siphoned from the state budget to cover pension system expenses. The California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System combined lost about $98 billion -- nearly a quarter of their value -- after their investments were battered in the real estate and stock markets over the last two years. CalPERS is under additional strain from enhancements approved by lawmakers a decade ago that allow most state employees to retire at 55 instead of 60 and public-safety workers at 50.
CIT debt swap struggles, bankruptcy looms - (news.yahoo.com) CIT Group Inc (CIT.N) is seeing little interest from bondholders in a debt exchange offer aimed at repairing its fragile balance sheet, making bankruptcy increasingly likely, sources familiar with the matter said. The lender to small and medium-sized businesses said earlier this month it was looking for investors to approve a large debt exchange that would reduce its borrowings, or to approve a prepackaged bankruptcy. CIT is now more likely to try a prepackaged bankruptcy, two people familiar with the matter said. They declined to be identified because the exchange offer is ongoing and information about its progress is private. But separately, investors in CIT securities said it is possible the company will not find enough debtholder approval for a prepackaged bankruptcy, which requires sufficient support before the company files for protection from creditors. Instead, CIT might have to aim for a prenegotiated bankruptcy, which typically has less support before the actual filing. CIT spokesman Curt Ritter declined to comment. CIT has limited time to work out its debt difficulties. It has about $3 billion of debt to repay in the fourth quarter, including both secured and unsecured obligations, according to a CIT quarterly filing with regulators. CIT has lost access to unsecured debt markets, but has billions to refinance in coming years. In three of the next four years, it will have more debt to repay than cash to pay it back. CIT has roughly 1 million customers and more than $70 billion of assets, but many of its borrowers are struggling amid the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Short-staffed DMV offices close; PECG files holiday grievance - (www.sacbee.com) We're hearing that at least four DMV offices closed today due to short staffing on what is undoubtedly the most controversial Columbus Day in California government history. SEIU Local 1000 passed along unconfirmed reports that said offices in Watsonville, Compton, Oxnard and Hawthorne are closed. The union, which had told the 95,000 workers covers to stay home and observe the holiday, said that some other offices are open but struggling because of low staffing. DPA spokeswoman Lynelle Jolley said that the administration had heard that three DMV field offices in Southern California and one the Gilroy area had closed today. Employees at closed locations who showed up were directed to work at nearby worksites. "Otherwise, it's been business as usual, except for a handful of offices," Jolley said. DPA is working to confirm which offices closed. The administration says that the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger changed the law earlier this year and that Columbus Day isn't a paid day off any more. Meanwhile, Professional Engineers in California Government filed a grievance over the elimination of Columbus Day and Lincoln's Birthday for members of Bargaining Unit 9.
Chicago fares could soon be among nation's highest - (www.sacbee.com) The Chicago Transit Authority is recommending fare increases that would see commuters who rely on the nation's second-largest transit system paying more than almost anywhere else in the U.S. The 2010 budget proposal made Monday would have the basic subway fare go up 33 percent, from $2.25 to $3.00. Simultaneously, the agency would reduce subway service by 9 percent and bus service by 18 percent. CTA President Richard Rodriguez told reporters a battered economy has forced Chicago's hand. The agency is receiving 30 percent less income from sales and real estate taxes than expected. Many cities face similar woes and also have raised ticket prices, including New York, which boasts the nation's biggest mass-transit system
U.S. autoworkers protest tax dollars sending jobs to Mexico – (www.freep.com) It isn’t fair. That’s what 500 American autoworkers in Kenosha, Wis., whose tax dollars helped rescue Chrysler, are saying about the new Fiat-controlled Chrysler, Reuters reports. They’re part of a coalition fighting to save Kenosha and nearly 2,000 other UAW-represented jobs at two other Chrysler plants slated to close next year. After Chrysler took $10 billion in U.S. assistance, it scrapped plans to bring a new, more fuel-efficient engine to its Kenosha plant, sending the work to Saltillo, Mexico, instead. The workers are crying foul -- to the media, the Obama administration and anyone else who will listen. So far, the lines of communication remain open. "We played the political card, you know, taxpayer dollars supporting Chrysler and the jobs going to Mexico," Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman told Reuters.
OTHER STORIES:
Accord will keep LAPD staffing at current levels, Villaraigosa says - (www.latimes.com) The mayor and two members of the City Council say they've forged an agreement to keep the number of police officers steady amid a budget crisis.
Schwarzenegger signs seven mortgage bills - (www.latimes.com)
SEC investigates KB Home - (www.latimes.com)
Deadline looms for Americans to disclose accounts in foreign tax havens - (www.latimes.com)
One year after market crash, Silicon Valley residents still hurting - (www.contracostatimes.com)
Walnut Creek, CA realtor convicted of enslaving nanny - (www.sfgate.com)
Arizona Rents Falling - (www.azcentral.com)
North Texas condo markets are in big trouble - (www.star-telegram.com)
Graying Brentwood, TN has glut of big houses - (www.tennessean.com)
Job competition toughest since recession began - (www.sfgate.com)
The FHA, VA, USDA Foreclosure Time Bomb - (www.homedebtors.blogspot.com)
Rich Uncle Pays Your Mortgage - (www.mises.org)
"Sell" for Research Renegades Becomes Business Off Wall Street - (www.bloomberg.com)
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