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The corporate parent of Fort Worth, Texas-based Hawk Electronics says that it will declare bankruptcy this week and liquidate after defaulting on a loan to its major creditor, which then blocked access to nearly $800,000 in its bank accounts on July 30, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported today. Customers are being told that there will be no interruption of service as Hawk, a unit of Teletouch Corp., transfers the account to its master network provider AT&T. Although Teletouch said in a July 30 federal securities filing that would file for chapter 11 reorganization in Delaware this week as it phases out its ongoing business. The company could then file a liquidation plan with the bankruptcy court or convert the bankruptcy to chapter 7 liquidation. The company said it had been trying to negotiate a deal with its New York lender, DCP, so it could meet its short-term obligations. It disclosed in February that DCP had extended a $6 million line of credit. The Fort Worth communications wholesaler-retailer disclosed last month that it had defaulted.

Ambulance operator Rural/Metro Corp., owned by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, filed for chapter 11 protection with the aim of cutting its debts after it missed an interest payment in July, Reuters reported yesterday. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company also intends to renegotiate unprofitable contracts and free up capital for investments through the bankruptcy process, according to the filings. The provider of private ambulance and fire protection services declared liabilities and assets each worth more than $500 million. Rural/Metro reached an agreement with both its senior secured and unsecured debt holders to reduce its debt and interest payments by nearly 50 percent. Bondholders have also agreed to infuse $135 million in new equity financing once Rural/Metro emerges from chapter 11, according to a filing.

Struggling from the fallout of federal immigration audits, two Southwest grocery-store chains have filed for bankruptcy protection with plans to reorganize, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. California’s Mi Pueblo grocery store operator filed for chapter 11 protection on July 22 after the 21-store chain was told to replace some of its 3,260 workers whose documentation came under review during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement audit, according to court papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose, Calif. The chain—which stocks its shelves with imported foods from Mexico, South America and other countries for its primarily Hispanic customers—said in court papers that the federal audit led the company to struggle with higher payroll costs and training expenses as new workers have been brought on board, said bankruptcy attorney Robert Harris in court documents. The stores sell fresh tortillas, marinated cuts of meat and specialty cheeses from throughout Central and South America. That filing comes after executives at Pro’s Ranch Market put the company’s 11 stores, which employ about 2,235 workers and are mostly located in Arizona, under bankruptcy protection in May.

American Roads LLC, which operates highways including the mile-long Detroit Windsor Tunnel linking the U.S. with Canada, is seeking bankruptcy court protection, citing $830 million in debt related to swaps and bonds, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The Detroit-based company listed more than $100 million in assets in chapter 11 papers filed yesterday. The filings “are not the result of the recent bankruptcy filing of Detroit, although Detroit’s financial situation has contributed to the difficulties,” Chief Executive Officer Neal Belitsky said in court papers. Traffic-related revenue declines from toll operations, most in Alabama, involve “the economic recession, the volatility of gas prices, reduced travel and discretionary spending,” toll increases, Congressional mandates for increased documentation, and events including the Deepwater Horizon BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a tornado “and a declining population in the Detroit area,” Belitsky said.

Maxcom Telecomunicaciones SAB, a Mexico City-based carrier, filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Maxcom listed $11.1 billion in assets and $402.3 million in debt in its court filing yesterday. Maxcom, which has struggled to compete with billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB, said on April 25 that it was considering filing for chapter 11 after a takeover deal with Ventura Capital Privado SA collapsed when the company failed to persuade 80 percent of bondholders to accept its restructuring proposal. The company’s defaulted bonds surged to a 10-week high earlier this month after it unveiled a second restructuring proposal with Ventura Capital. The telephone company said June 18 it missed an $11 million bond payment as it held discussions with Ventura and bondholders.

The controversial Women In Support of the Million Man March Inc. nonprofit in Newark, N.J., has filed for bankruptcy after federal authorities accused its leader of misspending a $345,325 federal grant, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The organization filed for chapter 11 protection under the name of its affiliate, Ace Alliance Inc. Executive Director Fredrica Bey and others proposed to help at-risk youth stay out of trouble after school using the 2005 grant. Last year, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice sued Bey and the nonprofit, accusing them of fraud, of improperly spending the money and then of attempting to “cover up their actions” during a subsequent investigation, according to court papers. Nonprofit officials have denied the allegations in court papers. The nonprofit’s bankruptcy is expected to halt the dispute before its trial can begin.

Hog producer AgFeed Industries Inc. filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday after agreeing to wind down its supply contract with its main U.S. customer, Hormel Foods Corp., which purchases weanling pigs and hogs from the company, the Wall Street Journal reported today. AgFeed plans to sell its U.S. operations while under chapter 11 protection, and it is also looking for a buyer for its Chinese units, which aren't included in the U.S. bankruptcy case. The Hendersonville, Tenn.-based company has lined up a $79 million leading bid for most of its U.S. assets from Maschhoffs LLC, a Carlyle, Ill., hog production network, according to court papers. The company has been involved in a dispute with Hormel that led to an arbitration award of $7.9 million against AgFeed earlier this year. This decision spurred an event of default under the company's $68.5 million credit facility, which matured in February and hasn't yet been repaid.

Microelectronics company Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc., which was spun off from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) in 2002, filed for chapter 11 protection on Wednesday and plans to sell its assets, Dow Jones Newswires reported yesterday. In court documents, Endicott said that competition from foreign manufacturers and reduced federal spending as a result of sequestration have caused revenues to fall drastically since 2009. The Endicott, N.Y.-based company designs and produces printed circuit boards and advanced flip chip and wire bond semiconductor packages for clients that include IBM, Cisco Systems Inc., Northrop Grumman Corp. and the U.S. Department of Defense. Endicott Interconnect projects revenue in 2013 will be less than $100 million, compared to a high of $414 million in 2008, according to court documents.

After posting a string of annual losses and defaulting on loan and lease payments, Tootie Pie filed for bankruptcy last week, the San Antonio Express-News reported today. On Friday, the board of directors of Tootie Pie Co. Inc. ousted CEO Don Merrill Jr. and replaced him with Leslie Doss, one of the company's early investors and an economics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. In an emergency hearing Friday, Tootie Pie sought a $50,000 loan from two members of its board in order to pay its employees. A bankruptcy judge allowed the loan over objections from the company's main creditor, TCA Global Credit Master Fund. Overall, the pie company listed nearly $1 million in debts, with assets less than $50,000.

Hoku Corp., which promised to become one of Eastern Idaho's largest employers with a proposed $700 million plant in Pocatello, has gone bankrupt, Boise Today reported on Friday. In May, 2012, Hoku halted construction of its Pocatello facility and laid off 100 employees after struggling to even pay its electric bill to Idaho Power. Hoku has filed for bankruptcy in Pocatello federal court, reporting nearly $1 billion in red ink. More than 30 separate entities have been listed as creditors. A meeting between the creditors and the bankruptcy trustee, R. Sam Hopkins of Pocatello, is slated for Wednesday, July 31.