Detroit Windsor Tunnel operator files for bankruptcy

By Subrat Patnaik and Jessica DiNapoli True Religion Apparel Inc, whose heavily adorned denim jeans have fallen out of fashion, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday with a deal in hand to slash its debt of about US$500 million and emerge from court protection quickly as a going concern. The retailer joins American Apparel LLC, Payless ShoeSource Inc and other chains in bankruptcy as shoppers increasingly buy online, turning away from brick-and-mortar specialty shops and department stores, where True Religion makes the majority of its sales.

U.S. creditors of Mt. Gox Co., the bankrupt Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange, asked a U.S. judge to approve a proposed settlement that would revive the company, return money to depositors and resolve claims against some of its executives. The accord depends on a Japanese bankruptcy court’s approval, according to papers filed in federal court in Chicago. The settlement wouldn’t release Mt. Gox principal Mark Karpeles from potential liability.

Quiznos Corp., the Denver-based toasted-sandwich chain, filed for bankruptcy just days after pizzeria company Sbarro LLC sought protection from creditors, as competition among fast-food restaurants grows in a tight market. “It’s a survival of the fittest,” Bob Goldin, executive vice president at Chicago-based restaurant researcher Technomic Inc., said in a phone interview before today’s filing. “The market is not growing, or it’s barely growing, so the weak players are getting weeded out.”

DETROIT — If you want to tackle Detroit’s thousands of abandoned homes and trash-strewn and overgrown lots, there are few better places to start than in Brightmoor in the northwestern corner of the city. “Brightmoor is arguably one of the most blighted areas in Detroit, which makes it one of the most blighted areas in the country,” said Kirk Mayes, executive director of community group the Brightmoor Alliance. “If you can tackle blight in Brightmoor, you can do it anywhere.”

Detroit’s city workers and retirees overwhelmingly agreed to accept the city’s debt adjustment plan, according to results filed late Monday, potentially clearing the way for the struggling city to exit bankruptcy in the next few months.

OTTAWA — Ottawa is giving a boost to southwestern Ontario’s battered manufacturing sector with more than $1 billion in spending over the next two years to help the auto industry and build a new bridge to the U.S. at Windsor, Ont. The federal budget Tuesday called for spending $631 million over the next two years to help build a new Detroit-Windsor crossing.

Presenting default you can believe in, as the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, involing the one-time iconic "motor city" which now has a population of 700,000 and some $20 billion in liabilities, is about to become reality. From the Detroit Free Press:

Three U.S. lawmakers have launched a bid to scrap the “dysfunctional” binational agency that has overseen operation of the Peace Bridge between Ontario and New York for nearly a century, part of the escalating fallout from a dispute over planned improvements to the U.S. approach to the crossing that has pitted Canadian board members against their American counterparts.