Seven Days

THEY HELD congressional hearings last week on a bill which would require a seven-day waiting period before a person could purchase a gun. Witnesses were divided into two groups: Those who had either been wounded by a gun, or had had a relative killed by one, and were in favor of the bill; and National Rifle Association lobbyists and Justice Department officials who were against it.I've never understood why anyone would object to waiting seven days for...

The mutual decision to postpone Wednesday night's showdown between UMBC and Maryland means that the top-ranked Terps will now have seven days between their last contest (March 2 at Duke) and their next one (March 10 vs. Stony Brook). It's the longest layoff of the regular season for Maryland, and coach John Tillman acknowledged some concern. “I think kids, you get them in a rhythm and get into a kind of systematic repetition and I think kids really flourish in that,” Tillman said Wednesday.

Lindsay Lohan says she's been going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for a year, but hasn't talked about it because "it's no one's business." "I just left an AA meeting," People magazine quotes the 20-year-old actress on its Web site yesterday. "I haven't had a drink in seven days. Or anything," she says. "I'm not even legal to, so why would I? Her publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, respond yesterday to a message from the Associated Press seeking comment. The king of New Orleans Sopranos' star James Gandolfini will reign as celebrity monarch Bacchus during the 2007 Carnival season.

With rapt attention, 4-year-old Alexis Gamble fixed her eyes on three teenage girls, bare-footed in vibrant-colored dresses, as they danced to traditional African beats on Saturday, the fourth day of Kwanzaa. The Gamble family, of Owings Mills, lights a candle each day of the seven-day holiday that was created in 1966 by Eastern Shore native Maulana Karenga to reflect on African culture. They were among more than 350 who turned out for the annual celebration at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

This is Don Hetz's life: He sleeps a little late on Saturdays, he knocks off a little early on Sundays to see his family, and he works almost every other waking hour of the week. Hetz installs and services home heating and air-conditioning systems. Most of his clients are remodeling rowhouses in Canton, Fells Point and Federal Hill. The jobs are backed up two to three weeks, and he may need to start turning people down. Reluctantly, he hired a second helper. To fend off competing offers, he had to pay the new guy a percentage of the profits.

Vladimir Maximov,64, a Russian writer and playwright who once was a leading Soviet dissident, died yesterday in Paris. Friends said he had been suffering from cancer. He is best known for "Seven Days of Creation" and "A Train for Moscow."

Disc jockey Johnny Dark is on the air five hours a day, seven days a week -- but don't try listening in the U.S. He is now on WorldSpace satellite radio and commutes to its Silver Spring studio three times a week from his Reisterstown home. At last count, he is heard in 132 countries around the globe. "I get e-mails from Qatar and sunny South Africa," he said yesterday about his music and his program, The Hop, which features songs of the 1950s through the early 1970s. "There are no commercials, and I find myself educating people about the oldies.

On this date in 1881, Baltimore began a week that wouldn't cool off. For seven days, through Oct. 3, the overnight LOW temperature in the city never slipped below 72 degrees. (Average lows are in the 50s.) All seven of those daily "high minimums" from 1881 stand as records, though one was tied in 1954. The four from Sept. 27-30 are among 10 record-high minimums for September.

Nowadays everyone from nutritionists to neighborhood grocers is telling us to watch our diets, but how can active people keep track of calories and fat when they eat and snack all day long?That's why Nutritional Data Systems Inc. of Austin, Texas, developed Dietcoach, a pocket computer that records a running total of the nutrients in the foods you eat. With a couple of keystrokes you can check the amount of protein, carbohydrates or fat (including percentages) you've consumed during the day or for the past seven days.

Today, The Sun unveils important changes in the way we cover Harford County and the region. The Sun will be publishing a new Harford section, with a new look, many new features and a new emphasis on community news. The intensely local section will include: Feature stories about people, places and events in the county written and illustrated by our award-winning writers and photographers. A weekly look at Harford County's rich history, as well as a column of agricultural news. A compendium of opinions from readers on an issue in the news, called Speak Out!

The Frederick News-Post plans to revive its Monday edition, which was suspended nearly three years ago in a cost-cutting move, and will return next month to seven-day publication, the newspaper announced Wednesday. The Monday edition, to restart Feb. 6, will have its own design and features and will emphasize business and sports coverage, publisher Geordie Wilson said. More than 100 papers in the United States have eliminated publication days in the past few years to save money, but Wilson said readers in the Frederick market "have made it abundantly clear that they want the print edition of their local paper on their doorstep seven days a week.

A mug of fresh-brewed coffee in hand and someone else cooking breakfast at the campsite: the perfect recipe for planning the next adventure. Or an I-told-you-so, in-print and on-line humiliation that will live until I die. Which could be, well, as soon as Wednesday night. The premise, as sketched on a grease-infused paper plate, is fairly simple. Complete the Maryland Park Service's Park Quest—a free popular summer-long activity that has attracted 750 families this year—in one week.

Robert James Lyden Sr., a longtime Baltimore County general practitioner who helped soothe jittery patients' nerves with Tootsie Roll pops, died Tuesday of cancer at his Rosedale home. He was 84. Dr. Lyden, the son of a tavern owner and a homemaker, was born and raised in Clarksburg, W.Va. After graduating in 1943 from St. Mary's High School in Clarksburg, he attended Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg for a year before enlisting in the Navy. He served as a hospital corpsman in the Pacific before being discharged in 1946.

On this date in 1881, Baltimore began a week that wouldn't cool off. For seven days, through Oct. 3, the overnight LOW temperature in the city never slipped below 72 degrees. (Average lows are in the 50s.) All seven of those daily "high minimums" from 1881 stand as records, though one was tied in 1954. The four from Sept. 27-30 are among 10 record-high minimums for September.

Is today the day? Usually, your Sunday morning anticipation revolves around the crossword puzzle, political talk shows, perhaps brunch plans or counting down the days until Week 1 of the NFL season. Maybe even snagging an extra thimble of wine at morning service. But not this summer. Not in Baltimore. We wake up once a week wondering whether this is finally the Sunday - oh, cursed Sabbath - the Orioles can finally post a win. It's the most curious and inexplicable stat, fact or truth of the baseball season.

Elizabeth Buie, a pioneering African-American cab driver and taxi owner, died of heart disease Saturday at the Alice Manor Nursing Home. The East Baltimore resident was 89. Born Elizabeth Webb on a Sanford, N.C., farm, she completed the seventh grade and did agricultural work in neighboring Broadway. When she heard there was work available here, she moved to Baltimore in the 1940s and took a job packing hand grenades at the Edgewood Arsenal. She rode a bus from her Gay Street home to Harford County.

Lawmakers meeting in a special legislative session on Maryland's fiscal crisis are costing the state $6,000 to $7,500 for each day they meet in Annapolis -- totaling between $36,000 and $45,000 since the House and Senate convened Sept. 25.So far, the Senate has met on seven days and the House on five.The session was supposed to last just one day and be dedicated to congressional redistricting, but the session dragged on to deal with the state deficit.Legislative aides said the special session is being conducted at a budget rate.

Do most of us have the notion of work-life balance wrong? Is it possible to get ahead in our careers without literally working around the clock? The answers are never clear cut. But I'm asking these impossible questions because of an item I recently read on The Wall Street Journal blog called The Juggle that deals with the issues of life and work. The blog cited New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's commencement speech to graduates of City University of New York's College of Staten Island.