Bankruptcy

Computers, desks, chairs and other office equipment and items that belonged to the now-defunct Big Huge Games, a Timonium-based video game maker, will be auctioned Tuesday as part of the company's Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidation. Big Huge Games was a part of 38 Studios LLC, a Providence, R.I.-based video game company owned by former professional baseball player Curt Schilling. The firm ran out of money and shut down in May, tossing hundreds of people out of work, including about 100 in Timonium.

Hundreds of Baltimore-area shoppers packed into the newly reopened Boscov's on Friday morning, welcoming back the department store as if they were greeting an old friend. "We're so glad you're back," customer after customer told store employees and Boscov family members on hand for the retailer's reopening at White Marsh Mall. The nearly 200,000-square-foot store opened in the same anchor spot the chain vacated four years ago amid the recession. The newly remodeled and restocked Boscov's drew hordes of shoppers Friday, all of whom had bought $5 tickets for the preview day. Proceeds went to local causes.

Since Baltimore City Hall contended in a federal lawsuit last year that a group of international banks conspired to keep a key interest rate benchmark low, more municipalities and private companies have started to investigate potential losses because of the alleged scheme. Baltimore bankruptcy attorney Joel I. Sher is looking into whether banks' manipulation of Libor, the London interbank offered rate, caused a jumbo mortgage lender, Thornburg Mortgage Inc., to lose money though interest-rate swaps tied to the rate.

Debbie Hurd sees it in the parking lots along North Point Boulevard — the answer to what life would be like if the steel mill that fueled the tight-knit communities near Sparrows Point never reopens. Fewer cars. Fewer customers for businesses. She gestured in her family's empty bar, Pop's Tavern, and said the days of steelworkers lined up for a drink are long gone. "Everything I see on this boulevard is really, really hurting," Hurd said. "I've told some of my employees, 'Don't get mad at me if I have to let you go.' " No big employer goes down without setting off ripples in the local economy.

Residents around Sparrows Point filed suit Thursday against the owners of the Baltimore County steel mill and a cement plant on the peninsula, contending that neighbors' health has been put at risk and their property contaminated by pollution from industrial activities there. The suit, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, seeks damages from RG Steel and LaFarge North America for exposing surrounding residents to hazardous and carcinogenic air pollutants, a gritty dust called "kish" and "noxious stenches and odors.

Former Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, in Baltimore to sign autographs at the National Sports Collectors Convention, said Friday that his arrest earlier this week in Atlanta for child abandonment, a misdemeanor, was caused by a hearing he did not attend. “It was not about an abandonment issue, it was not about a kid issue,” he said. “It was the fact that, honestly, I didn't show up for a hearing to defend myself and everything else. But, like I said in my statement, you know, I've never been a bad father.

The auction for RG Steel's Sparrows Point steel mill, expected Tuesday, will be delayed by a week. The sale of the Baltimore County facility as well as RG Steel's assets in Warren, Ohio, is now scheduled for 10 a.m. next Tuesday in New York. Attorneys for the company did not give a reason for the delay in a court filing Tuesday, other than to say that RG Steel officials are authorized to postpone the auction as they "deem appropriate" if major creditors agree. The auction for RG Steel's assets in the Wheeling, W.Va., region went forward Tuesday as planned, though results were not available as of early evening.

Borrowers overwhelmed by private student loan debt often discover an ugly truth too late — these loans can't be discharged in bankruptcy like other types of consumer loans. A new report on private student loans by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Education suggests it may be time to change that. The agencies say these loans offer so little flexibility to struggling borrowers that Congress might consider revising the bankruptcy law given today's tough economy.

Several companies have bid on bankrupt RG Steel's Sparrows Point mill, according to a source with knowledge of the bankruptcy proceedings. U.S. steel firm Nucor Corp., Ukrainian mining and metallurgy company Metinvest Group, and Brazilian steel giant CSN are among potential bidders on the Baltimore County steelmaking site, according to a source who declined to be named because the bid process is confidential. Bids were due by noon Wednesday. The bidders' interest was first reported by the Baltimore Brew news website.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Education issued a report on the status of private student loans. Americans owe more than $150 billion on such loans - much less than on federal loans - but these private loans don't have borrower-friendly repayment plans and they're poorly understood by those who take them out. When you hear graduates complain about the weight of student loans, it's the private kind they're typically talking...