Around the nation

ALABAMA

County nixes record default

BESSEMER | Commissioners in Alabama’s most populous county voted against filing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history Tuesday and the federal government refused to guarantee the county’s $3.2 billion sewer bond debt.

The Jefferson County Commission rejected a resolution to file for bankruptcy with a 3-2 vote during a meeting that lasted less than 10 minutes.

Afterward, the governor’s office said the Treasury Department had refused to intervene in the looming crisis, which started when the county made risky deals to pay for massive sewer system improvements after being sued over failure to meet federal clean water standards.

Officials said the area’s water is safe after 12 years of work, but payments on the county’s debt ballooned when the mortgage crisis struck and banks began tightening up on lending.

ARKANSAS

Teen admits $140,000 theft

LITTLE ROCK | A 19-year-old partygoer accused of stealing $140,000 from the Arkansas home of the chairman of Tyson Foods Inc. pleaded guilty Tuesday to transporting stolen goods.

The Dec. 27 theft occurred during a party thrown by John Tyson’s daughter at the family’s home in Johnson, a rural town about 141 miles northwest of Little Rock. Ryan Matthew Silvey, 19, was arrested Feb. 13 in Olathe, Kan., and police recovered about $30,000 of the missing money on him.

Silvey appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville. Prosecutors said he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Authorities are still searching for Bryce Kelly Anderson, 19, who is accused of taking the money with Silvey at the party.

CALIFORNIA

Winds hinder, help firefighters

LOS ANGELES | Ferocious desert winds pushed one of three major wildfires burning across Southern California to nearly double its size overnight, firefighters said Tuesday, the third day of the blazes that have destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands to flee.

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