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Long Island, N.Y.-based Long Beach Medical Center filed for chapter 11 protection on Wednesday to sell what remains of its assets after Hurricane Sandy devastated the hospital a little more than a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported today. South Nassau Communities Hospital has offered $21 million for the assets, a bid that will be tested at auction. The funding for the purchase came from a $22 million grant that the state of New York provided to execute the sale and build an urgent-care facility on the hospital grounds. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York is providing an additional $6 million grant to South Nassau Communities. South Nassau Communities is lending that money to Long Beach Medical to fund the chapter 11 case and help it continue operating. Long Beach Medical received $1.5 million of the funding before the bankruptcy filing and is requesting $4.5 million in the form of bankruptcy financing, which will require bankruptcy-court approval.

Indiana Limestone Co., which has mined slabs of stone for the Empire State Building and the Pentagon, filed for bankruptcy after struggling to repay a $53 million loan, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Officials put Indiana Limestone into chapter 11 protection yesterday while they look for buyers who could top a $26 million lead offer for the company's quarries, which cover more than 4,000 acres and are expected to produce more than 100 years' worth of limestone.

Classic Party Rentals Inc., a provider of tents, chairs and other equipment for Oscar parties and intimate gatherings, filed for bankruptcy after a period of rapid expansion and said it was preparing to sell the business, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The Inglewood, Calif.-based company, backed by Quad-C Management Inc., listed more than $100 million each in assets and debt in chapter 11 papers filed on Friday. The company sought “to consolidate a fragmented industry,” through acquisitions from 2004 to 2008, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey M. Black said in court papers. The buyouts “were priced and financed based on projections that proved unattainable” as demand slowed, he said.

Gilbert Hospital, a once highly profitable Arizona hospital that served as a model for other emergency-room centers, has filed for chapter 11 protection, the Arizona Republic reported today. Gilbert Hospital executives did not return multiple calls, but an attorney said that the bankruptcy filing stemmed from several factors, including a loss of financing, management changes, competition from other Gilbert hospitals and construction near the hospital that may have discouraged patients from visiting its emergency room.

Seymour, Ind.-based bioplastics maker Cereplast Inc. on Feb. 10 filed for chapter 11 protection from creditors, PlasticNews.com reported yesterday. Cereplast reported a net loss of $34 million on sales of $2.1 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30 — the latest financial results that the company reported. The company said that it is "actively negotiating a debtor-in-possession financing from several interested parties.”

Optim Energy LLC, a Texas electric company owned by a Bill Gates investment fund, filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday after piling up losses in a depressed power market, Reuters reported yesterday. The company, which owns three power plants in eastern Texas, said in court documents that it has been unable to reduce costs far enough to stem financial losses. Optim said that it had $713 million outstanding under a credit agreement with Wells Fargo. It estimated its assets were worth less than $500 million.

Casa Grande Regional Medical Center has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy to execute an $87 million sale to another hospital operator, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The 177-bed, not-for-profit Arizona hospital has seen revenue fall drastically as reimbursement rates for Arizona's Medicaid program were reduced, it said on Tuesday in court documents. These rate reductions caused revenue to fall by $10 million per year, threatening the hospital's ability to service its $65 million in bond obligations and to continue to operate, it said. The sale to Banner Health and Regional Care Services Corp., an operator of 24 nonprofit hospitals in seven states including Arizona, California and Nebraska, will allow Casa Grande to pay allowed claims in full.

The Texas-based operator of the Furr’s Fresh Buffet restaurant chain filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday, citing a surprising culprit for the move — the brutal winter weather, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Already crunched for cash by an effort to overhaul its restaurants, located throughout the Southwest, Buffet Partners LP said the December storm that brought ice and sleet to North Texas, leaving tens of thousands of people without power and stranding drivers, put a chill on its business. Buffet Partners, of Plano, Texas, said that it would use the breathing room of bankruptcy to restructure a debt load that tops $40 million. The chain, which employs more than 2,000 people, plans to continue operating its 29 restaurants in Arizona, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas during the chapter 11 case.

The owner of Hot Dog on a Stick, the employee-owned purveyor of corn dogs and deep-fried cheese in dozens of malls in the western U.S., filed for bankruptcy to reorganize and cut real estate costs, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. HDOS Enterprises listed debt of less than $10 million and less than $50 million in assets in a chapter 11 petition filed yesterday. The chain “signed some very expensive leases during the booming economy of the mid-2000s,” Chief Executive Officer Dan Smith said in a statement. It also suffered from a decline in foot traffic at the malls where it does much of its business.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday as part of a proposed $15 million settlement for hundreds of victims who say clergy members sexually abused them over decades while the church covered it up, the Associated Press reported on Friday. The chapter 11 reorganization plan comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs' attorneys and insurers, resulting in a proposed deal to resolve the abuse claims, diocese officials said. Bishop George Leo Thomas expressed "his profound sorrow" and apologized to the victims in a news conference. The $15 million "will at least be a beginning point for people who are seeking resolution in their lives and in their hearts," Thomas said. In addition to the money, the diocese must publicly apologize, publish the names of clergy members who have been credibly accused of abuse, offer to meet with abuse survivors, provide victim counseling and reinforce its policies and procedures to prevent abuse, plaintiffs' attorneys said.