A legal team that was seeking a bankrupt funeral home's financial records instead made a macabre discovery: nearly 100 boxes of cremated remains, some dating back more than two decades, stashed in a suburban storage unit.

The discovery has been a comfort for a few families that received the ashes of lost loved ones, but a conundrum for officials trying to figure out what to do with the rest.

Devotis Lee of Atlanta recently received the remains of her father, Julius Griffin, more than 10 years after his death in June 1999.

"It made me feel good, wonderful. It was fantastic," Lee said.

She said she had tried repeatedly to contact the funeral home several years ago but finally gave up in frustration. Then the Fulton County medical examiner's office got in touch to say the ashes had been found.

It's not clear whether any state laws were violated, but authorities are trying to determine whether sanctions should be brought against the Sellers Brothers Funeral Home or its last operator.

Heartland Publications LLC, the owner of 23 daily newspapers and other publications in nine states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday after agreeing with its major lender on a plan to cut the company's debt load by more than half.

The privately held company is one of at least a dozen newspaper publishers forced into bankruptcy protection by the recession, which dampened advertising sales in an industry that was already seeing readers and advertisers migrate to the Web.

In its filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Heartland reported assets of roughly $134 million and debts of $166 million.

Heartland spokeswoman Rivian Bell said the company's top lender, GE Capital, has agreed to reduce what it is owed to $70 million from roughly $111 million. In exchange, the financial-services arm of the industrial conglomerate General Electric Co. would get a 90 percent stake in the company.

Bell said the company's largest unsecured creditor, the hedge fund Silver Point Finance LLC, would get the remaining 10 percent ownership stake in exchange for the roughly $44 million it is owed, though Silver Point has not yet agreed to the reorganization plan. Silver Point did not respond to a request for comment.

Bankrupt U.S. auto parts supplier Visteon Corp said on Wednesday it is seeking approval for up to $150 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a group of its term-loan lenders.

Visteon said it has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware for approval of the DIP facility, which would give it extra liquidity to pay for ongoing operations. The court is expected to consider the motion on Nov. 12, it said.

Visteon said under the terms of the proposed financing, it would withdraw $75 million on the closing date of the agreement and have an option to take out the rest later.

Visteon, spun off from Ford in 2000, filed for bankruptcy protection in June, one of the casualties of the global auto industry crisis.

Rural telecom services provider FairPoint Communications Inc filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Manhattan bankruptcy court on Monday, under a pre-arranged plan that would cut its debt by $1.7 billion.

In a statement, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said the restructuring plan had the support of lenders holding more than 50 percent of the outstanding debt under its secured credit facility.

FairPoint has also received commitments for a $75 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan to continue operations while in bankruptcy.

"The day-to-day operations of our business will not be impacted by today's actions," Chief Executive David Hauser said.

In its Chapter 11 filing, the company listed total assets of about $3.24 billion and debt of about $3.23 billion.

FairPoint added that its annual interest expenses would be reduced from more than $200 million to about $65 million.

With about 1.7 million access line equivalents, FairPoint is the seventh largest local telephone company in the United States.

The bankrupt Catholic Diocese of Wilmington began its court fight Wednesday with

victims claiming sexual abuse by its priests over the value of its estate and how much will be available for claims.

Attorneys for most of the 142 victims indicated they may seek to expand the bankruptcy to include parishes that operate in the Delaware-based diocese but were not part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Sunday.

The attorneys for the diocese pledged an open process that they said would be the quickest way to resolve the claims that stem from alleged abuse beginning as far back as 1954.

The diocese became the seventh in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection, and its filing put on hold the scheduled start of eight civil trials relating to a defrocked priest.

Attorney James Patton, representing the diocese, opened the hearing by acknowledging the abuse by priests.

A Dutch court declared DSB Bank NV bankrupt on Monday, ending hopes the regional lender, which suffered a run on deposits, might be sold or bailed out.

The privately-owned bank is the first to go bust in the Netherlands since last year, though the government and regulators insist its failure was not directly related to the credit crisis.

"The court concludes that the utmost was done for DSB to continue as a whole entity, and there is no prospect of that anymore," the Amsterdam District Court said in a summary of its ruling.

After a run on deposits, DSB was put into receivership of the Netherlands' central bank a week ago. Customers had withdrawn about a sixth of the euro4.3 billion ($6.4 billion) the bank had in deposits at the start of the month.

The government insures the first euro100,000 of retail bank accounts. Central Bank President Nout Wellink has predicted a liquidation that will result in big losses for creditors and cost many of the 2,000 employees their jobs.

The failure has raised questions about the functioning of Dutch financial institutions, oversight bodies and the government — as well as DSB's own lending practices.

The catalyst for the run on DSB was a call by Pieter Lakeman, an industry gadfly, for customers to withdraw their deposits in protest because the bank had improperly overcharged mortgage customers.

The central bank and Finance Minister Wouter Bos have recommended that DSB consider trying to hold Lakeman liable for damages.

Frontier Airlines has received bankruptcy court approval of its reorganization plan, the Denver-based carrier announced today.

The action by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is the last major hurdle before Frontier emerges from bankruptcy.

Republic Airways Holdings is expected to acquire all of the assets of Frontier and its subsidiary, Lynx Aviation, on about Oct. 1.

"This is an extremely proud day for everyone in our company," said Frontier chief executive Sean Menke. "Many people doubted that we would even survive, let alone accomplish a successful reorganization, provide a recovery for our creditors and emerge a stronger competitor and company."

Menke, who thanked Frontier and Lynx employees for their hard work and sacrifice, said the airline will be "a successfully restructured airline, well-positioned to be a competitive, successful, sustainable airline for years to come."