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A timber company owned by Yakutat’s village corporation has filed for bankruptcy this month after a bank sued the corporation over $13 million in outstanding debts, AlaskaPublic.org reported. It’s the latest chapter in the story of a contentious logging operation that many of the corporation’s shareholders didn’t support. Yak Timber filed for bankruptcy on May 11. In a letter to shareholders the next day, the village corporation, Yak-Tat Kwaan, said they filed “only after exhausting all efforts to negotiate a resolution” with the bank. Yakutat’s tribal government, Yakutat Tlingit Tribe, says the lawsuit is further dividing a town that was already stressed — many residents didn’t agree with the logging operation in the first place. Andrew Gildersleeve is the Tribe’s executive director. The lawsuit, brought by AgWestFarm Credit, alleges that Yak Timber owes the Washington-based bank about $13.3 million in unpaid loans. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle on March 31. The suit says the corporation hasn’t made payments since the middle of 2022. The bank is seeking repayment, interest, and attorney’s fees. It lists equipment along with timber, proceeds, and property as collateral.

A Butler, Pa.-based nonprofit that began in 1990 as a community outreach program is reorganizing, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported. Grace Youth and Family Foundation (GYFF) has filed for chapter 11 protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. GYFF has assets of less than $50,000 and liabilities ranging between $500,000 and $1 million, according to court documents. The action was prompted after GYFF allegedly defaulted on a loan from First Commonwealth Bank, said David Fuchs of Carnegie-based Fuchs Law Office LLC, who is representing the nonprofit. GYFF, which serves at-risk youths and their families, owns two buildings in Butler and a field located outside the city. “We’re going to ask the court to allow us to retain a broker to market the properties,” Fuchs said. “If we can sell some of the properties, it provides an avenue to resolve First Commonwealth Bank’s claim and allow for … a simple reorganization task from that point forward.”

Anaergia Inc. has announced that one of its subsidiaries, Rialto Bioenergy Facility LLC (RBF), has initiated voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, Recycling Today reported. RBF anticipates that, during the restructuring, it will continue operating its multi-feedstock bioenergy facility in Rialto, Calif., which can convert up to 700 tons per day of organic waste, such as food and yard waste and biosolids, into renewable natural gas (RNG) with the capability to generate renewable electricity, soil amendments and fertilizer. RBF, with offices in Carlsbad and a facility in Rialto, California, is 51-percent owned by Anaergia Services LLC, a wholly-owned Anaergia subsidiary. As a result of a lack of feedstock available to the facility, RBF has been unable to produce sufficient revenue to cover its costs and debt service. Anaergia says the feedstock shortfall is due to a delay in the implementation and enforcement of laws requiring organic waste diversion from landfills by the city of Los Angeles as required under its contracts with private waste management companies, as well under California’s SB 1383. The company says feedstock ramp-up is slow industry-wide.

Kidde-Fenwal Inc., an industrial fire-detection and -suppression business owned by Carrier Global Corp., has filed for bankruptcy to deal with more than 4,000 lawsuits, becoming the first major reorganization to try to contain liability over health and property damage caused by “forever chemicals,” WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Kidde-Fenwal filed chapter 11 on Sunday after being embroiled in mass litigation stemming from the past sale and distribution of firefighting foam that allegedly contained man-made substances commonly known as PFOA and PFOS, or forever chemicals because they take a long time to break down. Bankruptcy offers a path for corporate defendants to resolve mass lawsuits in a single forum and has been used to address tort claims stemming from opioid misuse, asbestos poisoning and other allegedly dangerous or defective products. In recent decades, research has linked exposure to these long-lasting chemicals with health problems including kidney and testicular cancers, thyroid disease and high cholesterol, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The chemical industry has disputed some of the EPA’s findings, but a wave of liability lawsuits has targeted manufacturers that once used those substances, alleging water contamination, property damage and personal injury.

Drugmaker Athenex Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries voluntarily filed for chapter 11 protection, the company said on Sunday, according to Reuters. Athenex reached an agreement with its lenders to move forward with an expedited sale process of its assets, the company said in a statement. The Buffalo, N.Y.-based company has listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $100 million-$500 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The assets to be sold would be across its primary businesses of Athenex Pharmaceutical Division (APD), Orascovery, and Cell Therapy, the company said, adding that it expects the expedited process to be completed by July 1, 2023. The company said it has sufficient resources to support Athenex Pharma Solutions operations, and fulfill APD customer orders during the sale process.

A Garner company linked to the founder of a defunct charter school in Raleigh, N.C., has filed for bankruptcy protection, the Triangle Business Journal reported. The company, called S.O.D Holdings, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and lists its manager as Donnie McQueen, the entrepreneur behind Torchlight Academy. McQueen registered S.O.D to do business in North Carolina in 2019. The holding company holds the deed for the property that housed Torchlight. The 1.62-acre property – at 3211 Bramer Drive off Atlantic Avenue in northeast Raleigh – is valued at nearly $4 million, according to Wake County property records, and includes the more than 20,000-square-foot building that housed the school. Both S.O.D’s assets and liabilities range between $1 million and $10 million, according to the bankruptcy filing, dated May 5. Creditors include the North Carolina Department of Revenue and North State Bank.

The San Francisco Art Institute has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, a move that will force the 152-year-old institution to liquidate its assets and abandon its legendary campus on the edge of Russian Hill, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The Art Institute filed for bankruptcy on April 19. “It was a good run for 152 years and it is such a tragedy that it is gone,” said John Marx who served as co-chair of the institute's board. “The passion was there until the very end and up to the moment that we filed we were still trying to get a couple of billionaires on the East Coast to help us out but it just didn’t work out.” A meeting of the creditors will be held May 17. Most prominent among them is the University of San Francisco, which claims it is owed around $6 million for costs incurred in exploring a relationship between the two institutions in an attempt to save the art school. But USF ultimately decided not to go through with it in July 2022, and the Art Institute announced it would cease operations, ending a San Francisco tradition that dates back to 1871.

Ubo Technologies, a limited liability company connected to Waatr founder and CEO Rakesh Guduru, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The Doral, Fla.-based venture submitted its petition to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami on April 13. The petition was signed by Guduru. Ubo Technologies has more than $2.5 million in liabilities and $327,181 in assets, according to court documents. Its largest debts are $641,465 owed to supplier Unique Industrial Product and a $464,000 business loan from Cellular Nanomed, a California biotech startup. Guduru is also listed as an unsecured creditor, with $291,627 owed. Most of Ubo Technologies assets consists of inventory, office equipment and intellectual property. It also owns patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets related to Waatr, the maker of a self-cleaning reusable water bottle with UV purifiers and filters and CrazyCap, a portable cap that sterilizes water bottles.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday after the home goods retailer failed to secure funds to stay afloat, and has begun a liquidation sale, Reuters reported. The home goods retailer, which shot to popularity in the 1990s as a go-to shopping destination for couples making wedding registries and planning for new babies, has seen demand drop off in recent years as its merchandising strategy to sell more store-branded products flopped. Last year's moves to abandon that strategy, and to bring in more national brands that shoppers recognize, had not shown signs of working, with the company reporting a loss of about $393 million after sales plunged 33% for the quarter ending Nov. 26. The Union, N.J.-based retailer filed for bankruptcy in a District of New Jersey court, listing both its estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion and $10 billion, according to a court filing. The company said that it has received a commitment of approximately $240 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Sixth Street Specialty Lending Inc., according to a statement. While the retailer has begun a liquidation sale, it intends to use the chapter 11 proceedings to conduct a limited sale and marketing process for some or all of its assets, according to the statement. The company added that its 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and 120 buybuy BABY stores and websites will remain open and continue serving customers as it starts efforts to effect the closure of its retail locations.

David's Bridal, one of the largest sellers of wedding gowns in the U.S., has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time, 6abc.com reported. The news comes just days after the formalwear store chain said it would be eliminating 9,236 positions across the United States. The Conshohocken, Pa.-based retailer employs more than 11,000 workers. David's Bridal said that it is looking to sell the company, but in the meantime, stores are open and fulfilling orders for brides without disruption or delay. The announcement today marks the second time that David's Bridal has filed for bankruptcy in the last five years. The company previously filed for bankruptcy in 2018 after being laden with growing debt and declining sales of wedding dresses. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2019 as it continued to try to fix the business.