Ripple

Foreclosures on subprime home loans made to borrowers toward the end of the housing bubble will erase billions of dollars in value from neighboring properties, according to a report released yesterday by a nonprofit group. The Center for Responsible Lending used its findings to call for Congress to enact stronger protections for borrowers facing foreclosure - such as giving bankruptcy courts the authority to allow borrowers to continue making payments - and to take steps to prevent predatory lending practices.

Ace Hardware and Hearth in Glen Burnie was doing a brisk business in high-end barbecues and hot tubs in the midst of the real estate boom. Now Pete Peterson, an owner of the store, is having trouble selling luxury items for the home as consumer budgets are squeezed. "When the value of homes went up quickly, people were able to take the money they didn't work for and spend it on things they wanted," Peterson said, referring to soaring home prices that made people feel richer and allowed some to cash out equity.

Each year the organizers of Artscape, Baltimore's annual outdoor arts festival, boast that the event has gotten bigger and better. But this year that growth wasn't found in a larger crowd or a big-name concert act, but at the core of the festival's mission: the artwork on display. There are many explanations for the top-flight work, none of which presume to be scientifically objective. But people who have watched the city's art scene for years - and many of the artists themselves - all point to one common denominator: the Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize.

I can already anticipate the response many viewers may have on first seeing Thomas Hirshhorn's mixed-media sculpture Chandelier With Hands (2006), which goes on view today at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Omigod! What is that? Or, But is it art? Hirshhorn's unusual work, which looks like a cross between a giant meat rack dripping bloody slabs of beef and some sort of diabolical jungle gym, is one of the BMA's most spectacular recent acquisitions. It forms the centerpiece of the exhibition Ripple Effect, which explores how each new artwork to enter the collection enriches, modifies or comments upon the meaning of those already there.

Three years ago, people couldn't get a big enough SUV. The bigger the better. But by the time Chrysler Group came out last fall with its largest Chrysler sport utility vehicle ever, the eight-seater Aspen, gas prices had soared and the public's taste had downshifted to smaller vehicles that got more miles to the gallon. It was enough to give an auto manufacturer whiplash. Yesterday, Chrysler announced that it would lay off 13,000 employees - 16 percent of its work force - and idle the Newark, Del., assembly plant that produces the truck-based Aspen and its Dodge counterpart, the Durango, by 2009.

In the early-morning hours of a snowstorm, David Drown will make a decision that will have a ripple effect on all of Howard County: the decision whether to close schools. Like other school officials in the region, he'll wake up about 3 a.m. to check weather reports, test-drive county roads or simply toe his front yard to determine whether the conditions are safe for students. Drown, the director of transportation for the Howard County public school system, will forward his decision up the chain, where it will be approved or rejected by the superintendent and broadcast on local television and radio stations.

As he does just about every Sunday, Michael Phelps will wake up this morning and slip on his Ravens jersey. A replica of Ed Reed's No. 20 bookends Phelps' trim frame. Then he'll hit the streets of Ann Arbor, Mich., searching for a television that's broadcasting today's game from Kansas City. It's a brief break in a schedule that typically has Phelps visiting every corner of the country, alternately smiling, shaking hands and selling his sport - or selling MP3 players or watches or Speedos.

The NFL draft, the most anticipated non-game event in the sports galaxy, begins its roll call of newly minted millionaires today with a startling development that could create a ripple effect through the top portion of the first round. The Houston Texans, holders of the No. 1 choice, signed North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams yesterday, reportedly agreeing to a six-year, $54 million contract. NFL DRAFT Today, noon (rounds 1-3); tomorrow, 11 a.m. (rounds 4-7); ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network

On Thursday, November 3, 2005, DOROTHY MAE RIPPLE, of Gaithersburg, MD, formerly of Catonsville, MD; loving aunt of Jean Dorothy Humphries and Nancy Ripple-Fredrick; sister of the late Norma, Everett and Walter Ripple. Services and interment private. Arrangements by Devol Funeral Home, Gaithersburg, MD.

No matter how many times one sees the paintings of Claude Monet in reproduction -- in books and on everything from postcards and coffee mugs to refrigerator magnets and computer screen savers -- one is still never quite prepared for how luscious his works really are in person, so to speak. So, coming upon the dozen Monets that form the core of Monet's London: Artists' Reflections of the Thames, 1859-1914, the delightful Baltimore Museum of Art exhibition that opens today, is akin to experiencing a revelation.