NEWS
By New York Times News Service | January 28, 2007
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.
NEWS
By Elizabeth Large | September 19, 1999
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.
SPORTS
By Alan Goldstein | February 1, 1998
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.
FEATURES
By Chris Kaltenbach | February 6, 1998
"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.
NEWS
By Jill Hudson Neal | August 17, 1998
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.
FEATURES
By William Grimes | January 5, 1997
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.
NEWS
By EDWARD GUNTS | August 18, 1996
"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.
NEWS
By Andrei Codrescu | August 27, 1996
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.
FEATURES
By J. Wynn Rousuck | May 17, 1996
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.
ENTERTAINMENT
By J. D. Considine | April 11, 1996
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.