Accompanying

Prudential HealthCare expects to lay off 32 employees next month as the result of its decision to leave the Maryland Medicare market.The 32 employees all were in sales and marketing positions for the HMO's program for Medicare patients, said Kevin Heine, a Prudential spokesman.The HMO is leaving the Medicare market here because, it says, the costs of providing the coverage were higher than the premiums it collected.Prudential said it would not offer Medicare HMO coverage after Jan. 1 in Maryland, the District of Columbia, California, New York, New Jersey and parts of Florida.

When Bob Kemp takes out his saxophone, everybody notices.This morning, thousands of Beltway motorists will see Mr. Kemp's sax -- bright yellow and 27 feet tall -- looming overhead.The Glen Burnie balloon maker was hoping his helium-filled creation would be included in the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, but he was rejected by the Clinton people."I didn't have a commitment for anything," said Mr. Kemp of his talks with the Clinton staff.Disappointed but not deflated, the president of Kemp Balloons Inc. instead will tether the balloon near the intersection of the Baltimore Beltway and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway around dawn to greet 130,000 bleary-eyed motorists.

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer has accepted a cabled invitation from Kuwait's ambassador to the United States to join the emir of Kuwait on his triumphant return to his war-ravaged country.Mr. Schaefer apparently will be the only U.S. governor on the all-expenses-paid trip to Kuwait. The party is expected to include two former U.S. secretaries of state, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the U.S. secretary of commerce, and the chief executive officers of 20 of the nation's top corporations.

Branches of the large pine tree at the Linthicum Community Garden will be all aglow Sunday, setting the stage for holiday festivities in the neighborhood.The Linthicum Shipley Improvement Association, in conjunction with the Woman's Club of Linthicum Heights, is sponsoring a Christmas Tree Lighting at 3 p.m. at the garden, at the corner of Maple and Camp Meade roads.LSIA is planning an especially nice program this year, and organizers hope everybody will participate in this community celebration.

The eight-mile Skipjack Races off Deal Island, in their 32nd year, are scheduled tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.A Labor Day tradition in Maryland, the event has now been expanded to two days. Festivities get under way at 1 p.m. today with an all-you-can-eat crab feast. Other events will include boat races, fishing, swimming, canoe races and small- and large-boat docking contests.On the festival grounds there will be arts and crafts exhibits, demonstrations, live music, children's activities and an assortment of Eastern Shore seafood and other fare.

After-effects of last weekend's wintry mix unexpectedly intruded on the Music in the Great Hall program Sunday afternoon. Drops of melting snow and ice from the roof of the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church started falling with just enough noise right outside a window to distract pianist Enrique Graf in the silence between movements of a Beethoven sonata. "It sounds like a metronome," he said to the audience with a laugh. The beat of those drops didn't mesh with the tempos Graf had in mind, but that didn't throw him off a bit. I'd bet a roof cave-in couldn't have derailed his rock-solid performance of Beethoven's C major Sonata, Op. 2, No. 3. Graf seized on all the bold, brilliant "I'm Beethoven and you're not" ideas in this early masterpiece, making as much out of the exhilarating themes and rhythms of the opening and closing movements as he did of the tenderness in the Adagio.

LOS ANGELES -- Superior Court Judge Lance Ito took the O.J. Simpson case to the streets of Brentwood, giving jurors an up-close view of a crime scene and allowing Mr. Simpson a strange homecoming.The six-hour excursion yesterday began with a 14-vehicle procession across Los Angeles freeways and the streets of Brentwood, 15 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. Scores of people crowded at corners to watch the strange motorcade of presidential proportions.In some ways, the scene was eerily reminiscent of the slow-speed chase that culminated in Mr. Simpson's arrest in June on suspicion of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman.

BLIZZARD '96 TIDBITS:Classic Cafe Express and Coffee by Classic, a restaurant and coffee bar operated by the Classic Catering People at Penn Station, had a busy weekend with stranded travelers. Eddie Dopkin, president of the Classic Catering People, told us his employees went out of their way to help others, especially a New Jersey couple. The Classic folks even helped them find accommodations when they couldn't make it to their Inner Harbor hotel.Despite the snowy conditions, former Gov. William Donald Schaefer, his former chief of staff, Lainy LeBow-Sachs, and First Mariner Bank's Ed Hale were seen at Weber's on Boston in historic Canton.

TAMPA, Fla.-- --Finally, my first ACC men's basketball tournament. I'd heard the stories from coaches, players and fellow sportswriters for years and have looked forward to experiencing the event in person. The rich tradition. The frenzied excitement. The flip-flops and sunscreen. Yep, you read that right. Something funny happened when the tournament made the trek from Tobacco Road to the Cigar City. That little thing that made the event so special seems to have gotten lost, stranded at a Waffle House in Georgia probably.

FORTY YEARS AGO this summer, my family moved from the city of Baltimore to the vast pioneer wilderness of Liberty Road. Naturally, being 17, I worried about leaving behind the important elements of civilization. Anxiety spilling from every pore, I plugged in the radio in my new bedroom and heard the sound of the Coasters arriving like an old friend. "Walks in the classroom Cool and slow Who calls the English Teacher `Daddy-O?' Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown ..." The greatness of American culture had prevailed.