U.S. feds, banks work to freeze loans

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he's about a week away from disclosing a plan to suspend increases for many borrowers with subprime loans

Paulson and representatives of the nation's largest financial institutions are in talks to freeze the interest rate on subprime loans with adjustable rates, The Boston Globe reported Saturday.

Still to be determined is the length of the freeze, who would determine which borrowers are eligible and whether investors holding the rights to collect loan payments would be compensated, the Globe reported.

Major investors still need to be convinced that such a restructuring would avoid enough foreclosures to make it worthwhile to give up additional payments, financial analysts told the Globe.

The restructuring could help as many as 2 million homeowners keep their property, said John Taylor of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a consumer group.

Heathcare groups receive Baldrige honor

Two healthcare organizations were in the five U.S. businesses that received the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for organizational performance.
U.S. President George Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez announced the five honorees Tuesday. For the first time this year, non-profit organizations were winners as well, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a division of the Commerce Department, said in a news release.

"The organizations we recognize today have given us superb examples of innovation, excellence and world-class performance," Gutierrez said. "They serve as role models for organizations of all kinds striving to improve effectiveness and increase value to their customers."

The 2007 Baldrige Award recipients are:

Mercy Health System, Janesville, Wis., healthcare.

Sharp HealthCare, San Diego, healthcare.

PRO-TEC Coating Co., Leipsic, Ohio, small business.

City of Coral Springs, Coral Springs, Fla., non-profit.

U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., non-profit.

Named after former Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 to enhance the competitiveness and performance of U.S. businesses. The 2007 Baldrige Award recipients were selected from 84 applicants.

History, future combine at Italian palace

The historic Palazzo Ducale in the Italian city of Urbino is getting a futuristic makeover with "electronic frescoes" being added to its famed art collection.

Electronic designer Paolo Buroni designed a series of moving projections for a new exhibit at the 15th-century palace known for its Renaissance art and architecture, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Saturday.

While the new exhibit has a technologically advanced basis, its goal will be to make visitors to the Palazzo Ducale feel as though they stepped back in time.

Using projectors and blank walls, the exhibit will project historical works of art onto the exact locations they held six centuries ago.

The new exhibit opened Saturday in Urbino but a similar project 10 years in the making is set to open next spring in the Hall of Frescoes.

That exhibit will also feature a recreation of the historic locale's former glory and most famed works through technological advancements, ANSA reported.