By Edith Honan
Pennsylvania’s capital, Harrisburg, filed for a rare Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy on Wednesday after it was unable to resolve its debt crisis with creditors and faced a possible takeover by the state.
Harrisburg becomes one of the biggest cities to opt for the little-used chapter of the U.S. bankruptcy code.
Orange County, California, filed the largest Chapter 9 bankruptcy nearly 20 years ago after losing more than $1 billion in soured investments.
Harrisburg said in a court filing it was unable to continue paying for critical services as well as roughly $300 million in debt that funded an incinerator project.