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Fresh from settling claims of widespread racial discrimination, Denny's Inc. faces new allegations that male employees and managers sexually harassed waitresses who worked at one of its restaurants in Maryland.Among the claims in a $5.2 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore: Waitresses were ridiculed and groped and warned they would be forced to wear pieces of burned toast around their necks if they failed to perform their jobs."The conduct in this case is particularly egregious," said Clifford L. Hardwick, an attorney for three former and one current Denny's waitresses.

CHICAGO -- Cut up a firm, sweet, home-grown tomato; add a pile of crispy bacon slices, a glob of mayonnaise and a few leaves of crunchy lettuce; slide it all between two slices of fresh toast and you've got an American classic: a BLT.It's enough to make mouths water -- and to power the nearly $16 billion-a-year pork belly market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. A pork belly is basically a slab of bacon that hasn't been sliced, cooked, cured and smoked.That cravings for BLTs can drive the pork belly futures market is "conventional wisdom in this industry," said Jens Knutson, economic researcher with the American Meat Institute in Arlington, Va. "The industry even refers to this time of year as,'The BLT season.

While Gov. William Donald Schaefer called the NAACP's endorsement of a National Football League franchise for Charlotte, N.C., a "slap in the face," there were hints yesterday that the Baltimore-based civil rights group would modify its stance.Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said that the Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the NAACP's executive director, told him late yesterday that the NAACP did not intend to oppose Baltimore's bid for an NFL team. Dr. Chavis would call Mr. Schaefer to try to ease tensions, the mayor said he was told.

Anybody who has bought a home knows about the avalanche of paperwork that's required before a property can change hands. From the opening steps of the loan application all the way to the final documents at the closing table, it's a tedious process. Though vastly improved in recent years, the process continues to be marked by reams of paper, overnight delivery of packages and considerable waiting. Today, the mortgage industry is on the threshold of something revolutionary: a paperless mortgage process.

ATLANTA -- It's difficult for Jerry Richardson to find the appropriate words, something of a fitting and consoling message, to comfort Baltimore, the city that gave him a start in the NFL and, ultimately, allowed him to establish himself as one of the country's outstanding business leaders.He's here for a quick visit to the Super Bowl, his first as owner of the Carolina Panthers, who will not begin play until 1995. Richardson was hoping the NFL would honor Baltimore with the other expansion franchise but that didn't happen.

INDIANAPOLIS -- U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told the NAACP convention yesterday that civil rights activists "must focus anew on corporate America" in trying to achieve economic equality for black Americans."

Could widespread designations of entire ZIP codes, metropolitan areas - even entire states - as "declining markets," hinder a real estate recovery and hurt minority groups and moderate-income buyers disproportionately? Growing ranks of critics say the answer is yes. Since late 2007, most lenders, insurers and mortgage investment firms have compiled lists of local markets that they consider to be posing higher risks because housing values are dropping. Within those areas, borrowers are charged higher rates, loan fees and downpayments - costs that can rise significantly when applicants have credit scores below designated minimum levels.

In a show of contrition meant to quell a weeklong controversy, NAACP leaders told Baltimore yesterday that they were sorry and insisted that they never officially endorsed the rival bid of Charlotte, N.C., for a professional football franchise.The two top leaders of the Baltimore-based civil rights group maintained that they never intended to "ignore Baltimore . . . nor to provide any one city with a competitive edge over any other" -- despite telling reporters in North Carolina a week ago that they were sending "a clear signal to the NFL that we want a franchise here in Charlotte."

1993April 9 -- The Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., 45, is named NAACP executive director, the seventh in the association's 84-year history. He goes immediately to Los Angeles and spends five days in Watts housing projects awaiting a verdict in the Rodney King civil rights case.April 30 -- Attends a "peace summit" of current and former street gang members in Kansas City, Mo.June 3 -- Promises that "in the not too distant future" the NAACP will have more than 1 million members, up from the 500,000 currently claimed.

Maryland NAACP officials are calling on their national leadership to admit a mistake and apologize for endorsing rival Charlotte, N.C.'s, bid for a National Football League franchiseBut Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke isn't looking for an apology. He only wants the NAACP to lend its support for Baltimore's football bid now that the civil rights organization has entered the NFL franchise fray.Mr. Schmoke, interviewed at the Inner Harbor before last night's holiday fireworks, said he believes the football controversy will be an issue at the NAACP's annual convention next weekend.