A North Hollywood mother needs advice on restructuring her high-interest mortgage. Bad financial decisions and poor timing have landed Alicia Cardenas smack in the middle of the nation's sub-prime mortgage mess.

Economic turmoil means lower donations. Many New York nonprofits worry for the future. For Marcia Stein, the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. is not about sub-prime mortgage loans or complex securities.

The brokerage reports losing $2 billion in the first quarter, with 4,000 job cuts and $6.6 billion in write-offs due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Its shares rise on hopes that storm has peaked. Investors are giving Wall Street's biggest firms the benefit of the doubt.

A look at what the changes at Washington Mutual mean for customers and investors. Washington Mutual Inc. said Tuesday that it had raised $7 billion from private investors to bolster its capital, which has been depleted by a stream of deepening sub-prime mortgage losses.

The major indexes rise more than 3% , taking heart from firms' capital-raising plans. The stock market began the second quarter with an impressive rally Tuesday as investors dared to believe -- at least for a day -- that Wall Street is nearing the end of its painful sub-prime mortgage saga.

Soaring costs of bonds lead to big losses at the Getty, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Orange County Performing Artscenter, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Colburn School. Some of Southern California's major cultural institutions are bleeding because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, with combined losses of more than $3 million -- and mounting -- since February, ...

Investors gain hope after Standard & Poor's says the end of big bank and brokerage write-downs of sub-prime bonds may be in sight. The Dow, which skidded 235 points, finishes up 36 to 12,145. The stock market closed higher Thursday after a steep morning slide, as hopes were again raised that the bottom might be near in the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

The consumer total rises 37% year over year. More is expected. American consumers' bankruptcy filings jumped 15% in February from the previous month and a steeper rise is looming because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the American Bankruptcy Institute said Monday.

The sub-prime debacle is spurring a big-money litigation free-for-all. Insurance lawyer David Grais has been poring over equations in finance books to get up to speed on his new specialty: lawsuits stemming from the sub-prime mortgage debacle.

A report from Swiss Bank UBS predicting more severe sub-prime mortgage losses also sends shivers across Wall Street. The stock market suffered its worst drubbing in almost a month Friday as new troubles in the financial sector suggested that damage from the sub-prime crisis still had a long way to go.