Did Jefferson County just declare bankruptcy?

[trof]

I caught the tail end of a local news broadcast in Mobile.
I think that's what they said.
I'll check al.com

[trof]

1. Yep, they did.

Source: Birningham News

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Jefferson County Commission has just voted 4-1 to file an estimated $4.1 billion bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The commission's action came after it spent approximately six hours over two days meeting with its lawyers to discuss legal options, including a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing and a settlement with creditors on the county's $3.14 billion sewer debt.
<snip>
Another factor in the decision appears to have been the Alabama Legislature's inability to reach a consensus on any means of helping the county resolve its financial difficulties.

Jefferson County has been flirting with bankruptcy since Feb. 12, 2008, when it first publicly acknowledged that it was in financial trouble. Interest rates on some of the county's $3.2 billion in sewer debt, which had been 3 percent just weeks earlier, has soared to 10 percent because of the fallout from the nation's subprime mortgage crisis, county officials said. Payments jumped to a point where they were no longer affordable.

Read more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/11/jefferson_county_co...

[road2000]

2. "A statue in Alabama..."

Look for McCain to start yapping about Vulcan again.