21.   Big bank mergers may be dandy for investors but consumers are less than enthusiastic.

22.   A series of bank mergers and failures earlier this year battered the stock market, and nobody is convinced all the bad news is out.

23.   A series of bank mergers and failures earlier this year triggered the slide in the stock market, and nobody is convinced all the bad news is out.

24.   A spate of bank mergers also led to layoffs.

25.   After several weeks of calm, bank mergers are back in full swing.

26.   After an hourlong meeting Wednesday with both banks, Gov. John Rowland said his state would try to exact concessions to offset the layoffs caused by the bank merger.

27.   Allowing large bank mergers after forcing divestiture of once-competing branches on the same street corner is an example, he said.

28.   Bronx-based Inner City Press, challenges bank mergers using the Community Reinvestment Act and other laws designed to push banks to lend to poor communities.

29.   But Bruce Marks, a feisty Boston housing activist and a national poster boy for protesters against bank mergers, promised fire.

30.   But in this era of rapid bank mergers, many experts expect community lending protests to increase.