Mall Of America

Development Design Group Inc., an international architecturaland planning firm with projects valued at more than $1 billion under way worldwide, has elected to remain downtown rather than relocate its expanding headquarters to another city.Prior to an agreement with the owners of the 19-story Signet Tower, a transaction approved late Wednesday, Development Design had considered moving to either Washington, D.C., or Orlando, Fla., because those cities offered attractive amenities, easy airplane access and a higher profile image for the firm's international clients.

Pamela Bishop is the first to admit she wouldn't be caught dead in an uncoordinated outfit. She figures she takes after her grandfather, who on his death bed refused to go to the hospital before his family scrambled to find socks to match his blue suit. Brown socks just wouldn't do."We were digging and digging and digging, my mom and sister and grandmother," remembers Bishop, 43, who was 8 at the time. "We had to find the right color socks before he would even go."Today, Bishop will take two years to find the right hue of blue shoe, if that's what it takes.

It's not sleigh bells ring-jing-jingling in "Jingle All the Way." It's your money -- assuming you are either a consumer caught up in the frenzy of buying for Christmas or a moviegoer who has just plunked down $7 to see this film.You poor thing.It's not that this Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy is really bad. It's just that it's not good. There's always room for a holiday farce at Christmastime, but despite its refreshingly twisted sensibility, Jingle" isn't even as good as "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" or "Scrooged.

Lewinsky may be live from New YorkThe buzz is that Monica Lewinsky, who has spent the last 16 months as the butt of jokes on "Saturday Night Live," will appear as herself on tonight's show. That's what an NBC source says, anyway. She would push aside actress Molly Shannon, who has frequently portrayed her in skits. John Goodman may appear to reprise his role as Linda Tripp. If he does not make it to New York in body, he will lend his voice, the source says.And add the kitchen sinkIt's been a rough week for Busta Rhymes.

THE ROYAL TREATMENT Probably no singer in history is remembered as much for what he put into his mouth as the voice that came out of it. This Saturday would have been Elvis Presley's 70th birthday, and what better way to honor his legacy than with a meal fit for the King? Carole Carroll, who organizes the Night of 100 Elvises benefit each December, knows how to put on a royal spread. The event features a Southern buffet stocked with the sort of stick-to-the-ribs fare Elvis loved: fried chicken, meatloaf, collard and turnip greens, mashed potatoes and gravy and plenty of pie. "That man loved pie," Carroll says.

Key legislators said yesterday they would support significant state assistance for a proposed Silver Spring mega-mall development, but flatly ruled out a $300 million public subsidy.Even the Montgomery County executive, who supports the so-called American Dream project, said the $300 million figure recently floated by a lobbyist for the developer is unrealistic."If they want to come to Maryland and invest their capital, we certainly want to help them out," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. "But we're not going to give away the store to try and get this project moving."

WASHINGTON -- Mills Corp., a Chevy Chase shopping-mall developer that has lost more than half its market value this year, has secured financing for its Meadowlands Xanadu project in New Jersey, clearing the way for a possible sale of the company. Colony Capital, based in Los Angeles, will provide as much as $500 million of equity financing and arrange for construction loans to fund the balance of the expected $2 billion cost of the Xanadu project, Mills said yesterday. Mills' shares jumped 15.3 percent on the announcement, which comes less than a week after New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said the state would try to help save Xanadu.

SURELY, Columbians would adjust to having their post office in The Mall and not at the lakefront -- but why should they have to? Thanks to a recent decision to put the move on hold, those who like the small-town post office atmosphere won't have to adapt. Opponents of the move were unhappy to learn that a lease had been prepared for the new space even as public hearings were held to see how people felt. Out of order, they thought, even though the postal service had signed nothing. Surely the critics will continue to monitor developments because the delay is said to be motivated by a looming budget squeeze -- not preserving the ambience they cherish.

In The Region ISG to continue COBRA coverage of Bethlehem retirees Bethlehem Steel, acquired by International Steel Group of Cleveland in May, will end its sponsorship of the COBRA health insurance program on Sept. 30, as planned. But now ISG has agreed to assume responsibility for the program. That means Bethlehem Steel retirees will be able to continue in the program, said Bruce E. Davis, a Bethlehem attorney who represents the Retired Employees' Benefits Coalition. Premiums, however, will increase.

On the cusp of the 1950s social revolution stood Margaret Davidson. And the picture before her was quite unsettling.Her teen-age son and his Highlandtown friends were applying grease to their hair, listening to rock 'n' roll music, fighting in the streets and getting chased by the cops."