Information Services

Oh, ye of little faith, now you can praise the Lord -- in blue jeans and sweat shirts, on weekdays or at the mall.These days, more and more churches around Baltimore and the nation are offering informal worship to attract new members who may be intimidated by traditional services or caught up in hectic lives. In the past year, many have begun featuring half-hour services, weekday gatherings and simple hymns -- sometimes accompanied by bongos.In Harford County, an Episcopal church holds Tuesday services.

Biospherics Inc. said it continued its modest break into the black during the fourth quarter, as the Beltsville company boosted revenue from its information services division and prepared for the introduction of its D-tagatose sweetener in international markets.D-tagatose is a sugar made from whey, a little-used byproduct of cheesemaking. Unlike other low-calorie sweeteners, the product has about the same bulk as table sugar and can be used more readily in candies than other substitutes. The company said its sweetener's other advantage is that it does not break down when heated, making it potentially more useful for baking than competitors such as NutraSweet.

Three months after announcing the elimination of 350 jobs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland has informed state officials of plans to cut another 233 positions as a result of contracting out information services.Company officials said yesterday that the positions -- 7 percent of Blue Cross' current work force of 3,400 -- will be eliminated upon completion of an agreement with GTE Data Services of Florida."We expect it will be finalized by March 1," said Blue Cross spokeswoman Deb Nielsen.

Comcast Corp., the dominant cable television provider in the Baltimore area, said yesterday that it would launch a new service that would bring the Internet and computer on-line services into the home at speeds more than 50 times faster than the telephone modems of today.The service, called Comcast PC Connect, is undergoing a technical trial at employees' homes in the Philadelphia suburbs, the company said. It is expected to advance to a market trial sometime in 1995 and to commercial rollout by the end of the year.

After more than a year of discussion, compromise and negotiation, the Securities and Exchange Commission enacted new rules yesterday to bring the municipal bond market into the modern age. The rules will provide investors with annual reports from municipalities -- just like corporate reports -- and make it easier for investors to get bond prices.The changes are expected to have a profound effect on the $1.2 trillion municipal bond market, where the nation's cities and towns raise money. Once the rules are in place, they could encourage more investors to buy municipal bonds, lower the borrowing costs to municipalities and save taxpayer dollars.

AH New positions * AlliedSignal Technical Services Corp. announced the selection of Ivan M. Stern as president and the appointments of Eric Singleton as director, management information services and George Stuehler as director of health information services.* CMG Health named Henry A. Boyd president and chief operating officer.* Baltimore Metropolitan Council appointed Paul R. Farragut as its executive director.* London Fog Industries named Sara Morris vice president of creative services.

State regulators yesterday rejected requests by The Baltimore Sun Co. and the Washington Post Co. to set up trial information services using three-digit phone numbers.Available three-digit dialing codes are so scarce, the Public Service Commission of Maryland ruled, that assigning the easily remembered "N11" numbers to The Sun and the Post would give them an unfair advantage over other companies that might set up competing services.Like other publishing companies, The Sun and the Post are interested in selling information such as in-depth sports or stock results over the phone on a pay-per-call basis.

Last February, U.S. News & World Report devoted eight pages to the various health care plans being debated in Congress. Readers who craved more could turn on their computers and read the plans in full from the magazine's library online.This month's Self includes articles on violence and gun control and invites readers to debate the topics on the Well, a small but widely known electronic service based in the San Francisco Bay area.Each month, the Yoga Journal makes its table of contents and a sampling of current stories available electronically, hoping to attract new subscribers.

USAir Group Inc. elevated its finance chief to president and chief operating officer yesterday, a move that frees airline Chairman Seth E. Schofield to spend more time cutting labor costs at the beleaguered carrier.Frank L. Salizzoni, 55, was named to fill the post left vacant nearly two years ago when Mr. Schofield became the airline's chairman and chief executive officer."It's a very smart move that will provide Seth with the ability to focus on union things," said Jon Ash, managing director of Global Aviation Associates, a Washington aviation consulting firm.

As federal spending goes, $126 million is chump change, a mere pittance. In Washington, they toss billions around like rice at a wedding.In fact, I'm almost embarrassed mentioning so trivial a sum. The McGoofy Group would probably throw me off their show if I brought it up.However, I have just written a check to Internal Revenue, always a depressing experience, so right now $126 million looks like an impressive wad.And I have found that this particular $126...