The New York Times reports that Detroit is seeking bankruptcy protection:

Detroit Seeks Bankruptcy, Facing Debts of $18 Billion

By Monica Davey And Mary Williams Walsh

New York Times, July 18, 2013

DETROIT — Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once the nation’s fourth-most-populous city, has filed for bankruptcy, an official said Thursday afternoon, the largest American city ever to take such a course.

The decision to turn to the federal courts, which required approval from both the emergency manager assigned to oversee the troubled city and from Gov. Rick Snyder, is also the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in American history in terms of debt.[More]

Here are some stories we've done about Detroit recently:

• “Learn, Whitey, Learn!”—Paul Kersey’s ESCAPE FROM DETROIT
• Caught In The Black Undertow: Detroit—And America?
• Detroit Today - America Soon?
• Detroit: Post-Colonial Africa Happens In America
• We Almost Saved Detroit—The "Crime Crackdown" Of 1961
• Death of Detroit: Is Truth Unmentionable?
• Who Destroyed Detroit? National Review's Kevin Williamson Won't Say - But He Knows