(Continued from page 21)

year, the firm said.
• The increase in foreclosure starts comes as banks make up for time lost last year as the mortgage-lending industry grappled with allegations that it had processed foreclosures without verifying documents.
• The nation's biggest mortgage lenders reached a $25 billion settlement in February with state officials. And that's cleared the way for banks to address their backlog of unpaid mortgages.
• ___

• PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Caretakers for the SS United States, the legendary ocean liner moored on the Delaware River since 1996, are renewing and expanding their emergency distress call for the beleaguered piece of American maritime history.
• In an eleventh-hour reprieve that spared the ship a date with the scrap yard, a local philanthropist's $5.8 million gift allowed the SS United States Conservancy to buy it and keep it afloat until November 2012. With that date looming, the nonprofit conservancy launched a "Save the United States" fundraising rally Wednesday to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the ship's maiden voyage on July 3, 1952.
• The conservancy has raised about $6 million so far but needs $25 million to re

store the exterior and part of the interior to house a museum, said Susan Gibbs, conservancy executive director and the granddaughter of William Francis Gibbs, the ship's Philadelphia-born designer. The goal is to spark interest, raise public awareness and literally get investors on board.
• "The SS United States is America's flagship. It symbolizes the very best that this nation has produced," she said. "It is going to once again be an amazing icon for the nation to appreciate and enjoy."
• The fundraising campaign includes a new interactive website, www.savetheunitedstates.org, which allows donors to "purchase" a piece of the ship for $1 per square inch for themselves or in honor of someone else. They can choose the section they want to sponsor by scrolling and zooming around a virtual model on the website, "meet" other donors throughout the ship, personalize and upload images and memories of the ship, and share it through social media sites.
• ___

(Continued on page 23)