Trump

Maybe after all this time (seven months since the last edition) and a steady, unremitting, grinding and pitiless decline in audience favor, a refresher is in order. So here goes. The Apprentice: Once the most important program on NBC and a showcase for the world's most unstoppable ego! The future of television! The replacement for Friends! The new king of Thursday nights! An international phenomenon! An advertiser's best friend! Creator of indelible catchphrases ("You're fired!"). And, incidentally, when it first launched almost exactly four years ago, not a bad show, either.

NEW YORK -- Under cover of night last October, 68-year-old Los Angeles financier Meshulam Riklis and his 38-year-old wife, actress-singer Pia Zadora, crept out of their two lavishly appointed suites at the Trump Tower on New York's Fifth Avenue, according to a lawsuit filed by real estate tycoon Donald Trump, because they could no longer scrape up the $100,750-a-month rent.The undignified exit could serve as a metaphor for the shifting fortunes of Mr. Riklis' financial empire. True, the couple still has matching Lear jets plus two multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills houses .But the network of companies cobbled together by the Istanbul-born wheeler-dealer over the past 30 years appears to be in serious trouble.

A former Westminster resident was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl last year. Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. imposed a five-year prison term on Steven C. Trump, 30, who lives in Manchester, before suspending all but 60 days. Upon his release, Trump will be on five years' probation, may have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with any girl younger than age 16. The victim is not being named to protect her privacy.

FireManchester: Firefighters from Manchester, Lineboro and Pleasant Hills, Pa., responded at 8: 01 a.m. Saturday to a house fire in the 4100 block of Trump Road. Units were out 43 minutes.

Representatives of union and management were meeting today in an effort to head off the threatened strike by more than 3,200 employees at the General Motors Corp. minivan plant on Broening Highway."We hope there will be a successful conclusion to these talks but you never know," Terry Youngerman, a GM spokesman, said today.He said more than 30 negotiators from both sides began discussions at the southeast Baltimore plant at 6 a.m. over what union representatives charge are unsafe working conditions.

An article in Monday's editions of The Sun stated incorrectly that Thom Lombardi is under contract to customize Donald J. Trump's personal helicopter. Proposals are being prepared, but no contracts have been signed. Also, Lou and Kathy inn, of Perry Hall, own the car that attracted Mr. Trump's attention. It was customized by Mr. Lombardi, whose correct age is 45.The Sun regrets the errors.

Nobel raises prize moneyThe Nobel Foundation has announced it will increase the value of the 1992 Nobel Prizes by 8 percent from last year, to more than $1 million. The 1992 award increase was made possible by a 6 percent rise in operating profit on investments, the foundation said.U.S. female rabbi marks 20th anniversaryRabbi Sally Priesand, the first female rabbi ordained in the United States, just marked the 20th anniversary of the event."I thought the ultimate goal was to become rabbi of a large congregation," she said.

Reality TV works well when it tells a deeper story than merely that of a contest. It works even better when the tale rubs up against viewers' core values and beliefs. The wildly popular American Idol, which made instant stars out of Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard, simultaneously celebrates and quashes the democratic notion that talent will be rewarded. The Simple Life, which last month became the hottest new series on network television, validates and tweaks our ideas about social status by allowing middle-class viewers to feel superior to members of upper and lower classes.

THE PACKAGE arrived in the mail from a big PR firm in New York, and after ripping through the brown wrapping with my fat little fingers, there it was: Trump, the Game, new from Parker Brothers. You can't get away from this man, no matter how hard you try. On the game's box is a huge picture of a glowering Donald Trump and his lacquered hair looming over the skyscrapers of Manhattan, with the cheery inscription: "I'm back and you're fired!" Inside, on the back of the rule book, is a personal message from The Donald.

Maryland: Medicare State tries to recoup prescription costs Maryland is asking the federal government to reimburse its costs for trying to straighten out difficulties with the new senior citizen prescription medication plan called Medicare Part D. The state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it is gathering information, awaiting final details of recoverable costs and calculating expenses, but an extremely rough estimate of its request would...