Johnston-based ALL Fuels & Energy Co. said in a press release today that its subsidiary, ALL Fuels – Jefferson LLC has obtained a stay preventing Valero Renewable Energy Co. from closing its proposed purchase of an ethanol plant owned by Renew Energy LLC. The stay is effective until Jan. 6, but could be extended until Jan. 14. Renew Energy is the debtor-in-possession in a Chapter 11 U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Wisconsin, bankruptcy proceeding. The stayed sale order approves the sale of the Renew Energy’s Wisconsin-based ethanol plant to Valero Renewable Energy Company for $72 million. “We are actively pursuing our legal options so that all of the facts surrounding the auction of the Renew Energy ethanol plant can come to light and be considered by the bankruptcy court,” said Dean Sukowatey, president and CEO of All Fuels. His company has made a bid of $77 million.

General Growth Properties Inc., the embattled owner and operator of regional shopping centers that filed for bankruptcy protection in April, posted a narrower net loss in November than the prior month, Reuters reported. The Chicago-based company reported revenue of $216.8 million in November and operating income of $85.2 million. In October, it posted revenue of $215.0 million and operating income of $82.4 million. According to a monthly regulatory filing, the company’s net loss in November was $6.4 million, or 2 cents per share, down from $12.6 million, or 4 cents a share, the month before. General Growth, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, owns or manages more than 200 shopping malls in 44 states, including Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines.

The Nation, in its year-end list of Most Valuable Progressives, has named Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) the Most Valuable Advocacy Group. “For three decades, Iowa CCI has built and maintained remarkable rural-urban coalitions to fight factory farms, urban blight and abuses of Latino and Asian immigrants,” wrote John Nichols on TheNation.com. “In the current financial crisis, the group has ramped up its activism on behalf of banking reforms that free up credit for small farms, businesses and families while cracking down on payday loan operations.”