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Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has taken his campaign for local ownership of the Sacramento Bee to U.S. Bankruptcy Court, though the court may not be allowed consider his arguments, according to a commentary in the Seattle Times. The Bee’s owner, The McClatchy Company, filed for chapter 11 protection in February while it restructures its pension obligations and more than $700 million of debt. McClatchy’s papers have continued to publish. But Steinberg has said during the bidding for McClatchy assets like the Bee, there may be an opportunity to pry his city’s paper loose from the group. “The company is based here in Sacramento, yet the bankruptcy reorganization is being heard in New York City — far from the local markets that depend on this journalistic resource,” Steinberg wrote in a letter to Judge Michael E. Wiles, of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The Bee has published more than 1,000 stories related to the coronavirus between the end of February and April 30, Steinberg said, and he called it the most significant source of original reporting in the community. A hedge fund, Chatham Asset Management, is the major lender and shareholder, and is expected to operate McClatchy as a private company, although other bidders for all or part of McClatchy are expected.

Top law enforcement officials from California, Texas and dozens of other states and U.S. territories are backing the latest bid by federal lawmakers to restrict the ability of financially troubled companies to file for bankruptcy protection far from where they have their headquarters, the Wall Street Journal reported. The National Association of Attorneys General on Thursday sent a letter to Congress supporting a bipartisan bill that would make it harder for companies whose principal place of business is outside New York or Delaware to file for chapter 11 protection in those states, which have long been the most popular venues for large corporate bankruptcies. The letter, signed by 42 attorneys general, touches on an issue in corporate bankruptcy that for years has been a source of debate and occasional controversy. The attorneys general’s letter said that while they respect the expertise of judges in Delaware and New York “we reject the argument that judges in other districts are not equally capable of exercising an expertise in handling corporate cases, large or small.” “Under the current rules, those who already have suffered as a result of a corporate debtor’s financial collapse must spend substantial additional amounts, travel long distances, and often hire additional local counsel simply to participate on an equal footing with the debtor,” the letter said. “While some suggest that distant parties can try to catch up by participating telephonically in court hearings, the inability to appear in person or to engage in face-to-face discussions with those who are in courts puts them at a distinct disadvantage.”