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A Louisville business and its affiliates have filed for bankruptcy protection, the Louisville Business First reported. Hull Organization LLC, Hull Properties LLC, Hull Equity LLC and 4 West LLC all filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Dec. 13. The companies are all registered to Robert Hull, whose LinkedIn profile states he works in retail shopping center and office development. Each of the entities are represented by Tyler Yeager, a bankruptcy attorney with Kaplan Johnson Abate & Bird LLP. He and Hull declined to comment on the cases. The majority of unsecured claims relating to Hull Organization are taxes owed on several properties in Springfield and Dayton, Ohio, totaling more than $61,000, according to one of the filings. Locally, the business owes $9,193 in electric bill payments to LG&E for the two suites it owns at 1902 Campus Place in Louisville, according to filing documents. Hull Organization has between $1 million and $10 million in assets, the filing states.

Kansas City-based recycler Ripple Glass continues to operate while parent company Strategic Materials Inc. works to restructure $432 million of debt in bankruptcy court, the Kansas City Business Journal reported. Houston-based Strategic Materials (SMI) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 4 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. According to court filings, SMI received $23 million of debtor-in-possession financing from existing lenders that is being used to keep operations running at its subsidiaries, including Ripple Glass. Ripple Glass sold to SMI in September 2022 for an undisclosed amount, with plans to take the concept national. Ripple Glass was founded in 2009. Its processing plant at 1642 Crystal Ave. in Kansas City collects and grinds about 500,000 tons of glass a year into what's called cullet that is ready to be melted down and turned into new glass products. The recycled glass in Kansas City is used primarily to produce fiberglass insulation.

Anagram, Party City’s metallic-balloon supplier, has emerged from bankruptcy, following a sale of the business to the company’s bondholders, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Anagram renewed its supply contract with party supplies retailer Party City last week, Party City and Anagram court filings show, resolving a threat that has been hanging over the supplier for months of potentially losing one of its biggest customers. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas last month approved the sale of Anagram to a group of the company’s bondholders, including Neuberger Berman, Littlejohn and Barings. Both Party City and its balloon-making subsidiary Anagram filed for bankruptcy in two separate cases last year. The two companies had separate boards and employees. Party City emerged from bankruptcy in October.

The Franciscan Friars of California, a Roman Catholic organization devoted to serving the poor, has filed for bankruptcy after facing nearly 100 lawsuits related to decades-old sex abuse claims, Reuters reported. The Oakland, Calif.-based organization said in a Tuesday statement that it was driven to bankruptcy by a change in California state law that allowed sex abuse survivors to file decades-old complaints that were otherwise time-barred under the state's statute of limitations. The Franciscan Friars of California joins a growing wave of Roman Catholic organizations that have filed for bankruptcy to address sex abuse lawsuits. Most of the 94 lawsuits filed against the Franciscan Friars were filed in California, where a 2019 law revived older sex abuse claims and led to the bankruptcies of the Catholic dioceses of San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Rosa. All of the recent lawsuits against the Franciscan Friars of California are based on abuse that allegedly occurred at least 27 years ago, the group said in a Tuesday statement. Most of the friars accused of abuse are deceased, and the organization has long since cut ties with the six who are still alive, the group said.

Audacy is preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks after declining advertising revenue made the radio network unable to service its nearly $2 billion debt load, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Philadelphia-based Audacy has reached an agreement with its senior lenders for a prepackaged bankruptcy plan, the people said. The lenders will provide financing for the proceedings and are expected to own the company following the restructuring, they said. Audacy’s revenue has decreased while net losses have widened due to lower advertising spending in the radio sector. The company last year raised doubt over its ability to continue as a going concern. It said its current revenue forecasts for 2024 indicated it will have difficulty satisfying its debt obligations. In October, Audacy missed interest payments on its senior loans and obtained consent from its lenders to provide a grace period as they worked on restructuring negotiations. Audacy operates hundreds of radio stations that broadcast music, news, and sports, and provides streaming services through its mobile app. Founded in 1968 as Entercom Communications, the company merged with CBS Radio in 2017. It operated as Radio.com following the CBS merger before rebranding as Audacy in 2021.

A continuing care retirement community (CCRC) with a history of financial woes is slated to change hands, with senior living company LCS poised to buy it, SeniorHousingNews.com reported. The community, known as Harborside and previously Amsterdam at Harborside, in March filed for bankruptcy for the third time in nine years, with LCS winning a five-day auction worth $63 million for the community last fall, according to court records and an article published by Newsday.com. A judge approved the sale on Dec. 27, U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip court records indicate. But the community’s debt holder, Kansas City based-UMB Bank, has appealed the ruling that approved the transaction to LCS.

Former Houston bankruptcy judge David Jones has asked a federal court to toss a lawsuit that revealed his romantic relationship with a bankruptcy attorney and ultimately led to his resignation, saying he cannot be personally sued over his rulings as a judge, Reuters reported. Jones, who oversaw the complex case panel in the Southern District of Texas and was the busiest bankruptcy judge in the U.S., said in October he would resign after publicly acknowledging he had been living for years with his longtime romantic partner Elizabeth Freeman, who was a bankruptcy partner at the law firm Jackson Walker until December 2022. The firm represented many companies that filed for bankruptcy in Jones' Houston court, often acting as local counsel for larger law firms like Kirkland & Ellis. Jones acknowledged the years-long relationship in the wake of an Oct. 4 lawsuit by a McDermott International shareholder, who sued Jones over his rulings in the energy company's bankruptcy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit initiated a misconduct complaint and said that there was probable cause to believe that Jones committed an ethical violation by failing to disclose his relationship, but the court ended its investigation when Jones resigned.

The Hospital at Westlake Medical Center announced Friday it would be closing its emergency department that evening, KXAN.com reported. Local emergency leaders said that they were given little notice about the closure which could impact paramedics and nearby medical facilities. The hospital’s website confirmed its emergency department would be closed by 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29. Douglas Havron with the Capital Area of Texas Regional Advisory Council (CATRAC) said he became aware of the ER’s closing through local EMS. The CATRAC oversees trauma and emergency response across 11 counties, including Travis County. The Hospital at Westlake Medical Center issued a statement about the closure. It said “As part of our ongoing restructuring efforts, we have made the difficult decision to close the emergency room for now. We promptly informed all necessary agencies about this change and will maintain open communication on any further developments.” The “restructuring” mentioned in the statement refers to the hospital’s filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2023.