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Gage County, Neb., has hired a law firm that offers bankruptcy services as the county struggles to deal with a $28.1 million judgment awarded to six people who were wrongfully convicted of murder, the Associated Press reported on Friday. County officials signed contracts Wednesday with Lincoln-based Woods & Aitken and two other law firms providing legal services. Bankruptcy has been among the scenarios county leaders have been forced to consider as they appeal the judgment won in July by the so-called Beatrice Six inmates, who spent a combined 77 years in prison in the 1985 death of 68-year-old Helen Wilson before DNA testing cleared them in 2008. The county’s current and former insurers have denied coverage, and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said last week that the state couldn’t lend the county money because the damages were awarded in a federal lawsuit. The county has appealed the judgment, arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence to find against the county and law enforcement officials and saying the award was too high. A federal judge rejected the appeal in September. The county has since appealed to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

New Jersey yesterday rejected Atlantic City's recovery plan, saying that it was unlikely to achieve financial stability, setting the stage for a possible state takeover of the cash-strapped gambling hub, Reuters reported. The plan, which would cut costs, borrow money and raise $110 million through a land sale, did not go far enough, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Charles Richman said in his decision. The blueprint failed to meet several necessary requirements, and city leadership "has had ample time to improve the city's financial condition yet has avoided doing so in any meaningful way," Richman wrote. The city's property tax base plummeted over the last several years as increased gambling competition in neighboring states cut into the city's casino industry. In a joint statement with City Council President Marty Small, Mayor Don Guardian called on the state to reconsider its decision. Earlier yesterday, Atlantic City met its $9.4 million debt service payment but still owes another $7.1 million through the end of the year.

Atlantic City, N.J.'s cash-strapped casino hub, will slash at least 100 jobs, or about 10 percent of its staff, but does not plan to raise taxes in a five-year fiscal recovery plan aimed at avoiding a state takeover, according to a presentation by city advisers yesterday. The gambling resort has lost more than two thirds of its property tax base since 2010 because of competition from casinos in neighboring states, which has led five of the city's 12 casinos to close since 2014, Reuters reported. The city also plans to sell a defunct airstrip to its water authority for $110 million to fill a budget hole and meet terms of a $73 million emergency loan issued by the state earlier this year. Under the recovery plan, Atlantic City will borrow to help pay off big tax appeal settlements that it owes to the MGM Resorts International-operated Borgata and other casinos, lawyers said at the city council hearing. Mayor Don Guardian said that the plan will be presented to state officials in Trenton today after the city council approved it yesterday. From there, the state has five days to accept the plan. If it does not pass muster, the state could take over city operations, a move that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has pushed for in the past.

Wayne County, Mich., the home of once-bankrupt Detroit, won release from its consent agreement with the state as its finances improved after 14 months of oversight, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The county received formal notification from the state approving its request to be released from the pact, the county said yesterday. Michigan Treasurer Nick Khouri found the county met terms of the agreement by fixing its deficit and restoring fiscal stability. In June 2015, County Executive Warren Evans asked the state to declare a financial emergency to help Michigan’s largest county fix its budget crisis. He requested the consent pact, an initial step toward state oversight. That agreement, which became effective in August 2015, allowed the county to avoid bankruptcy. At the time, the county of 1.8 million residents faced a $52 million annual deficit because of rising costs and a declining population. Since then, county officials moved to reduce retiree health care bills, cut labor costs and turned once-chronic deficits into surpluses.