Bankruptcy

The developer of the Yorkway housing development in Dundalk filed for personal bankruptcy this week, but Baltimore County doesn't expect the move to affect the much-anticipated community, which broke ground in September. John F. Vontran and his wife, Kelly A. Vontran, of Perry Hall, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday and list nearly $10 million in liabilities, which include personal and business-related loans. Creditors include the Patapsco Bank for a $3.3 million obligation related to a business operation and bakery magnate and Inner Harbor East developer John Paterakis for $1 million, also a business-related loan listed as disputed, according to documents filed with the federal bankruptcy court in Maryland.

The owner of an Anne Arundel County trucking company put out of business late last year by federal safety officials has filed for bankruptcy protection again, listing more than $3.3 million in debt. Mark David Gunther Sr., owner of Harmans-based Gunthers Transport LLC, filed under Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore on May 15. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration called Gunthers Transport an "imminent hazard" to the public when it ordered the company's trucks off the road on Nov. 16. When the company tried to reconstitute itself weeks later as Clock Transport LLC, it, too, was ordered closed.

Liquidation of some of the 399 Borders stores could begin as soon as Friday , the company has announced, pending court approval at a hearing tomorrow. The book and music chain operates large stores in Timonium, Columbia and Annapolis, as well as smaller mall stores in White Marsh, Columbia, Westminster and BWI Marshall Airport. Nationwide, there are 10,700 employees who will be dealing with this closure, not to mention the book lovers who liked to browse the shelves.

The parent company of Harborside Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore, which faced state sanctions for air-conditioning failures more than two years ago, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to court documents. Ravenwood Healthcare Inc., based in Baton Rouge, La., listed $10 million to $50 million in liabilities and the same amount of assets, according to documents filed late last week with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Middle District of Louisiana.

It's no secret that the U.S. financial situation is dire. The government spends more than it takes in and has done so since the Clinton administration.  But how bad will it get? Will our penchant for military excursions and entitlement programs cause the government to default on its debt like some rundown gambler?  U.S. Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) is predicting the nation will have to turn to bankruptcy to fix its problems.  "I am very hopeful and positive in the long run, but I think we are going to go through a bankruptcy first," the Texas congressman told Fox News in a Sunday Interview . Obviously, the country can't actually declare bankruptcy like someone with a gambling addiction can. But the country could realistically default on its debt, leaving countless holders of U.S. government bonds screwed.

Constellation Energy Group was the successful bidder Monday to purchase five power plants in the Boston area that would boost its energy-producing capacity by a third, according to court documents. In August, the Baltimore company agreed to buy the plants owned by Boston Generating in bankruptcy proceedings that would make the company's $1.1 billion offer the price to beat in an auction. Boston Generating, a part of U.S. Power Generating Co., filed for bankruptcy protection that month.

Hopes for a reborn central Columbia clashed with fears over a bankrupt developer's future at an unusual, daylong Howard County Council hearing Saturday. Discussion has been going on for five years as debates raged over traffic, affordable housing, schools and infrastructure cost. The council intends to vote on the resulting legislation by January, though critics say more time is needed. Columbia's master developer, General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago shopping center chain that bought the Rouse Company five years ago, is pushing to urbanize downtown Columbia with a new street grid, pedestrian plazas, sidewalk shops, restaurants and multistory, densely packed offices and garages.

Erickson Retirement Communities, the national chain of campus-style senior living facilities, emerged from bankruptcy Friday less than six months after filing the Chapter 11 case, attorneys said. Catonsville-based Erickson is being sold to Redwood Capital Investments LLC, a Baltimore-based investment firm, for $365 million. The sale — expected to close by the end of the month — and a post-bankruptcy reorganization plan have been approved by a federal bankruptcy court in Texas, attorneys for Erickson and affiliated debtors announced.

The liberal political organizing group ACORN is on the verge of bankruptcy after a string of disclosures about mismanagement that caused funding to dry up, according to a person familiar with the organization. Leaders of the group and their advisers have been discussing options for weeks as donors, including foundations and government entities, have cut back on funding, according to another source, who took part in talks about ACORN's future. Pablo Eisenberg, a senior fellow at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, said ACORN leaders have told him of plans to file for bankruptcy and form a new entity to serve as a public policy link to local and state chapters "without the name of ACORN."

Vertis Holdings Inc. of Baltimore said Thursday that it filed for voluntary bankruptcy protection as part of an effort to reduce approximately 60 percent – or $700 million – of its debt. The company, which offers advertising inserts and direct marketing solutions, is embarking on a "pre-packaged" bankruptcy plan, where the debtor and creditors have already negotiated a reorganization plan, which includes $600 million in financing from Morgan Stanley and GE Capital. The company expects to emerge from bankruptcy in about two months.

In December, I called the hiring of Chelsea Clinton as a special correspondent for the newsmagazine "Rock Center" a "journalistically bankrupt decision by NBC News. " In February, after seeing Clinton's second report for the show, I wrote that Clinton "failed Journalism 101 -- again. " On CNN's  "Reliable Sources," I called the quote from NBC News President Steve Capus that it seemed to him as if Chelsea Clinton "had been preparing her whole life" for this job in journalism one of the most outrageous and disconnected-from-reality statements I have ever heard from the mouth of a news president in 30 years of reporting on the networks.

The prospective new owners of the Baltimore Jewish Times took over Washington Jewish Week nearly two years ago and made an array of changes to the publication, which had just turned 80 years old. They redesigned the tabloid, revamped the website and launched an email newsletter. It's not yet clear if they contemplate similar changes to the Jewish Times, a weekly that has come out every Friday for 93 years. Craig Burke, the publisher of Washington Jewish Week, said he cannot discuss specific plans until he learns more about the Baltimore company, Alter Communications Inc., which also publishes Style magazine.

It would take six years for the publisher of Washington Jewish Week to recoup the $1.26 million it bid to buy Alter Communications, based on Alter's financial projections through 2017. An affiliate of Rockville-based WJW Group LLC won the bankruptcy auction Monday for the assets of Alter, a family-operated company that's been publishing the Baltimore Jewish Times for nearly a century. The $1.26 million price tag is higher than many observers expected, including Alter's CEO. The sale still has to be confirmed by the U.S. District Court bankruptcy judge - the hearing is Thursday.

The company owned by the family that has published the Baltimore Jewish Times for 93 years was sold at bankruptcy auction Monday morning for $1.26 million to the owners of the Washington Jewish Week, who are promising to keep the local focus of the weekly magazine. Louis Mayberg, one of the principals of Route 95 Publications, LLC, said the paper will continue to have "Baltimore-based reporters covering Baltimore-based issues…I hope we'll get the support from the Baltimore Jewish Community.

A key creditor in the bankruptcy of the Baltimore Jewish Times and Style Magazine publisher has become the third bidder for the firm, raising the prospect of new ownership that the current chief executive officer said would be "a real tragic end to this company. " H.G. Roebuck & Son Inc., the company's former printer, submitted its initial bid of $450,000 hours before the 5 p.m. deadline on Thursday, said Zvi Guttman, the trustee appointed this month by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to sell the assets of Alter Communications Inc. Starting bids of $440,000 were entered earlier by Route 95 Publications LLC, run by the same group that publishes Washington Jewish Week; and Baltimore Community Publishing LLC, an investor group led by Scott Rifkin, an Owings Mills physician and health care entrepreneur.

Pending the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times and Style Magazine could be sold at auction next week. Zvi Guttman, the trustee in the case, asked the court Wednesday to approve a sale schedule, which calls for all bids for Alter Communications Inc. to be submitted to him by Tuesday afternoon and for the sale to be conducted on the morning of Wednesday, March 28. Objections to the proposed schedule are to be filed with the court by 10 a.m. Thursday.

CHICAGO - Mall operator General Growth Properties Inc. said a bankruptcy court has approved its plan to restructure $10.25 billion in debt related to 103 properties as part of its effort to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. General Growth, which owns many of the Baltimore region's malls and is based in Chicago, filed the largest U.S. real estate bankruptcy case in history in April. Under the reorganization plan, the approval of which was announced Tuesday, 194 debtors owning 85 regional shopping centers, 15 office properties and three community centers will emerge from bankruptcy "as soon as practible."

SAN FRANCISCO - Blockbuster Inc. shares plunged further into penny-stock territory Wednesday after the struggling home-video-rental company said in a regulatory filing that it will likely file for bankruptcy if it's unable to address its debt load. Shares of Blockbuster fell 12 cents, or 29 percent, to 28 cents a share. The company's market capitalization now totals about $34 million, or just a fraction of its fourth-quarter revenue of $1 billion. - MarketWatch

The new face in the office of the publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times and Style Magazine is Zvi Guttman, a man in a black yarmulke, white shirt, dark tie and black suspenders who settled into the conference room Monday, opened his laptop and began the work of a bankruptcy trustee: selling the business and searching for assets to pay creditors. "The trustee becomes the owner, the board of directors, the officers. … Legally I've replaced all those," said Guttman, who worked with the door shut, sitting at a long table surrounded by empty chairs, with nothing in front of him but his computer, a phone and an open spiral notebook.