Taj Mahal

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Real estate mogul Donald Trump received another last-minute reprieve from the Atlantic City Casino Control Commission Thursday, allowing him to continue operating his financially troubled Taj Mahal Hotel on the Boardwalk.But the smart money has it that Trump's days as a fight promoter competing with the owners of big Las Vegas hotels ended with last night's Evander Holyfield-George Foreman heavyweight championship match at Convention Hall.Trump had put Atlantic City on the boxing map with a number of multimillion-dollar matches in the past four years, including Mike Tyson's brief encounters with Michael Spinks and Carl Williams and Foreman's knockout of Gerry Cooney.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Real estate mogul Donald Trump received another last-minute reprieve from the Atlantic City Casino Control Commission Thursday, allowing him to continue operating his financially troubled Taj Mahal Hotel on the Boardwalk.But the smart money has it that Trump's days as a fight promoter competing with the owners of big Las Vegas hotels ended with last night's Evander Holyfield-George Foreman heavyweight championship match at Convention Hall.Trump had put Atlantic City on the boxing map with a number of multimillion-dollar matches in the past four years, including Mike Tyson's brief encounters with Michael Spinks and Carl Williams and Foreman's knockout of Gerry Cooney.

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.

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."

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.

When some people think of '60s music, they think first of the Beatles. Or the "British Invasion" that followed the Beatles' debut. Or the "San Francisco Sound." Or the golden age of soul.But for many -- especially those who were white college students during the early years of the decade -- the first thing that comes to mind is folk music. Never before or since has this genre been so popular.Even though the folk-music renaissance faded after the mid-'60s, its influence is strongly felt in such modern performers as Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Billy Bragg and the Indigo Girls.

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.

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.

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.

At the last wedding reception I attended, most of my time wa spent quietly sipping a Molson Light and watching 200 drunks do the Hokey Pokey.All in all, it was a chilling ordeal. They say all brides look beautiful on their wedding day, but this one looked like a young Peter Ustinov, which seemed to set the tone for the entire affair.The food was lousy, the band stunk and when the first strains of "The Hokey-Pokey" drifted across the room, I took it as a sign that the world was coming to an end.Just then, an intoxicated woman with smeared lipstick and a huge pearl necklace grabbed my arm and tried to yank me up to the dance floor.