Taj Mahal

Seven years after New Jersey legalized gambling in 1977, state lawmakers created an agency called the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to redirect some casino revenue to blighted areas in Atlantic City and across the state. But the agency, contending that the gambling industry's success is a critical component of the state's economic health, has handed about $400 million back to the casinos, a sum that accounts for more than 20 percent of the money it has committed since its inception.

The owners of the new India Palace aren't modest. They call their restaurant "Baltimore's Taj Mahal of Indian restaurants."This is stretching things a bit, particularly when you consider the strip shopping center location, the entrance -- already somewhat scruffy -- and the green neon.The interior has potential, but right now there's a bar empty of bottles because the liquor license hasn't come through yet, and a couple of large dining rooms that could use a bit more in the way of decoration.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Too strong. Too fast. Too slick.In a nutshell, International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins of Philadelphia proved he was in a higher league than Simon Brown in recording a knockout after one minute of the sixth round at the Taj Mahal last night.If nothing else, Hopkins, who swept the first five rounds, strengthened his claim as the best man in his division.After hurting his Maryland rival in the fourth and fifth rounds with solid combinations, Hopkins jumped on Brown as soon as the sixth round began.

"Blues Brothers 2000" doesn't tell much of a story, but it makes for one smokin' concert.A sequel to the blues-soaked car-wreck that was the original "Blues Brothers," it brings back much of the surviving cast from that 1980 film, offers up a flimsy story line about how the surviving brother is dedicated to reviving the act, makes a half-hearted attempt to instill some family values, then sits back and lets the music take control.L Wise move -- one of many this surprisingly deft movie makes.

The second pull of a slot machine handle proved to be a lucky one for a Howard County man who won $2.1 million yesterday at a casino in Atlantic City, N.J.The man, a Columbia resident who wishes to remain anonymous, had been playing a dollar slot machine called Jeopardy! in the Trump Taj Mahal casino for less than half a minute when he hit the jackpot.He took home a $106,983 check, and will receive a check for the same amount for the next 19 years."I put in three coins and pulled the handle," said the man, who is an ultrasound machine salesman for General Electric Medical Systems.

There are a few shortsighted travelers left who do not know what they are doing on New Year's Eve in 1999. David Banford is not one of them. When the odometer of our spinning orb ticks over for the year 2000, Banford, a British investor in small businesses, will be floating off Barbados aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, with 99 other members of his club.He will toast the New Year and the new millennium with champagne that has been awaiting the occasion since 1982, the year that he and a group of old school friends put down a $10,000 deposit to reserve 50 double cabins and lay down some serious Bordeaux, ports and champagnes.

"Graceland: Going Home with Elvis," by Karal Ann Marling. Harvard University Press. 258 pages. $24.95.Everybody knows that the most-visited private residence in the U.S. is the White House, but the second most-visited may be a surprise to many.It's Graceland, former home of Elvis Presley and now the top tourist attraction of Memphis, Tenn. It's always in the news at this time of year because of the crowds that gather to mark his death at 42 on Aug. 16, 1977.Graceland is also the subject of an entertaining book by Karal Ann Marling, professor of art history and American studies at the University of Minnesota and a keen observer of contemporary culture.

MY FRIEND George Myers Jr., book critic at the Columbus Dispatch, is about to have his first name interdicted by John Kennedy Jr. It seems that George Jr.'s on-line publication, georgejr.com, is rubbing John John the wrong way, because he fears losing money on his own web site, george.com.The trouble is that, as George Jr. charmingly puts it, his 'zine georgejr.com is worth ''a dozen Barney videos, an array of socks and a portable CD player that burps when my car hits a twig,'' while JFK Jr.'s 'zine george.

After he finished writing "Private Lives," Noel Coward sent a copy of the script to his co-star, Gertrude Lawrence. She replied by telegram: "Your play is delightful and there's nothing that can't be fixed." Coward fired back: "The only thing to be fixed will be your performance."At Center Stage, the performance of Melinda Mullins in the role created for Lawrence is the highlight of a production that is the finest of the three offerings in the area's current Coward festival.Mullins plays tempestuous Amanda, who discovers on her honeymoon with her second husband that her first husband, Elyot, is honeymooning with his new bride in the very next hotel room.

Busta RhymesThe Coming (Elektra 61742)For better or for worse, Busta Rhymes' "The Coming" epitomizes the sound and strengths of East Coast rap. Or perhaps we should say for better and for worse. Though his brusque, staccato delivery evokes all the roughneck aggression of Onyx, his sputtering cadences are often at odds with the groove, working against the rhythm in the worst way possible. And even though he grounds each track with lean, bass-heavy loops, his refusal to lock into the rhythm means those jeep beats don't always take the music anywhere.

MUMBAI, India - Security forces assaulted a Jewish center in Mumbai where Muslim militants were believed holed up with possible hostages today, with black-clad commandos dropping from an Indian helicopter as sharpshooters opened fire on the five-story building. The attack came as Indian commandos scoured two luxury hotels room-by-room for survivors and holed-up militants, more than a day after a chain of attacks across India's financial center by suspected Muslim militants left at least 119 people dead.

SIKANDARA, India - Sitting in the middle of a highway under baking hot sun is not Mansingh Burja's idea of a good time. But it's the best way, he says, for him and hundreds of fellow protesters to vent their anger over being classified by the government as a "backward" class near the bottom of India's social ladder. They want to be lower. Members of an ethnic group known as Gujjars, the demonstrators have blocked traffic for the past two weeks here on the road leading to the famed Taj Mahal, ever since dozens from their ranks were killed in a hail of bullets during clashes with state police.

Just announced Panic at the Disco -- DAR Constitution Hall in Washington on April 30. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster .com. Virginia Coalition -- Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis on March 20. 410-244-1131 or ramsheadlive .com. Gaelic Storm -- Recher Theatre in Towson on April 5. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Bob Mould -- The 9:30 Club in Washington on March 15. 800-955-5566 or tickets.com. Mr. Greengenes -- Rams Head Live on April 11. 410-244-1131 or ramsheadlive.com. Still available Maura O'Connell -- The Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., on Feb. 16. 703-549-7500 or birchmere.

Maybe an economist can make us feel less guilty about shopping. "Retail shopping powers two-thirds of our economy," says Anirban Basu, quickly settling the issue. "If you've got it, then you can spend it." A father of two young daughters, Basu seems aware that mall hopping is in his future. "We don't have enough upscale shopping. ... If you really want haute couture, you have to go someplace like Tysons Corner," he says. "A lot of the retailers look at the Baltimore-Washington area and see it as one."

Seven years after New Jersey legalized gambling in 1977, state lawmakers created an agency called the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority to redirect some casino revenue to blighted areas in Atlantic City and across the state. But the agency, contending that the gambling industry's success is a critical component of the state's economic health, has handed about $400 million back to the casinos, a sum that accounts for more than 20 percent of the money it has committed since its inception.

Etta Baker, 93, an influential blues guitarist who recorded with Taj Mahal and won a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, died Sept. 23 in Fairfax, Va., while visiting a daughter. She had toured well into her 80s.

The state Board of Public Works voted yesterday to have prisoners make some tables and chairs for the House of Delegates' new offices, but a private company will still provide most of the furniture. The board, made up of the governor, comptroller and state treasurer, decided to pay State Use Industries $283,572 for 276 hearing-room chairs, 192 stacked chairs and 48 round tables. The bulk of the contract, $1.8 million for other furniture, will be filled by Maryland Office Interiors of Baltimore.

In 1984, Dee Wright was reading a magazine article about Michael Jackson when she happened upon this stray fact: While Jackson slept in California, he was making money in Europe. It was as if an imaginary cash register was going ka-ching every second of the day, as dollars, pounds, lira and deutsche marks flowed into Jackson's coffers. Perhaps you, too, read this article, or a similar one. But the difference between you and Wright is that she underlined the sentences, filed them away, figuratively if not literally.

The owners of the new India Palace aren't modest. They call their restaurant "Baltimore's Taj Mahal of Indian restaurants."This is stretching things a bit, particularly when you consider the strip shopping center location, the entrance -- already somewhat scruffy -- and the green neon.The interior has potential, but right now there's a bar empty of bottles because the liquor license hasn't come through yet, and a couple of large dining rooms that could use a bit more in the way of decoration.

The second pull of a slot machine handle proved to be a lucky one for a Howard County man who won $2.1 million yesterday at a casino in Atlantic City, N.J.The man, a Columbia resident who wishes to remain anonymous, had been playing a dollar slot machine called Jeopardy! in the Trump Taj Mahal casino for less than half a minute when he hit the jackpot.He took home a $106,983 check, and will receive a check for the same amount for the next 19 years."I put in three coins and pulled the handle," said the man, who is an ultrasound machine salesman for General Electric Medical Systems.