Unlicensed

The police dub them "roving whorehouses." A liquor board official refers to them as modern-day speak-easies that change addresses weekly. Saturday night, drawn by a flier that promised a "locked door freak fest" where "up to 30 sexy dancers" would be on hand, 50 men packed a West Baltimore after-hours club. But this time, authorities intervened, raiding the establishment. Tipped off by a neighbor, police and state liquor agents burst into Ronnie's West Side Gallery in the 2100 block of W. Lanvale St. - part of a stepped-up campaign to rid the city of unlicensed clubs where alcohol is illegally sold.

Without license, a for-hire driver is only a 'hacker'We deplore the senseless violence on our streets today and have the greatest sympathy for any victim of that violence.However, characterizing the victim as an "unlicensed cabbie" was not correct ("Youth arrested in shooting of unlicensed cabbie," Jan. 26).If an individual transporting passengers for hire does not have a license issued by government authority, then that individual is not a cabbie.The label "cabbie" is not correct. It misleads the public and damages the legitimate taxi industry.

Through tears and anger yesterday, wives and other relatives of three unlicensed cabdrivers slain in Baltimore in August last year told the man convicted in the killings that they hope he thinks about their loved ones every day as he spends his life behind bars. "Javas Hall, can you look at me?" asked Cher Cuffie Samateh, wife of one of the victims. "Can you look in my face? You took away a loving father, a supportive, devoted and attentive husband and a loving friend. My 3-year-old still has nightmares because she misses her daddy."

Through tears and anger yesterday, wives and other relatives of three unlicensed cab drivers slain in Baltimore in August last year told the man convicted in the killings that they hope he thinks about their loved ones every day as he spends life behind bars. "Javas Hall, can you look at me?" asked Cher Cuffie Samateh, wife of one of the victims. "Can you look in my face? You took away a loving father, a supportive, devoted and attentive husband and a loving friend. My 3-year-old still has nightmares because she misses her daddy."

Opinion * Commentary trol activists, believing that the Littleton, Colo., school shooting tragedy might at last arouse Congress to toughen gun laws, have been knocked back on their heels in the wake of the Senate's vote to reject tightened procedures for sales at gun shows.The 51-47 vote against the Democratic proposal, and the subsequent passage by 53-45 of a Republican version making background checks on buyers from unlicensed gun dealers merely voluntary, jolted the anti-gun lobby at a time its leaders hoped the clout of the National Rifle Association and its allies might at last be slipping on Capitol Hill.

The people hanging around the Cherry Hill shopping center weren't ready to celebrate the news that a market was coming to the old Super Pride spot. They've heard such promises for nearly two years and still don't have a full-service grocery. That could change this summer. The city's Board of Estimates approved this month a $50,000 grant needed to bring a market back to this neighborhood of 11,000 people south of the Hanover Street Bridge. To date, $750,000 in loans and grants from public and private agencies have been lined up, with $50,000 from the developer, Integrity Foods LLC. Yet residents are sticking to a "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude.

State regulators have ordered a South Dakota-based payday lender to stop making consumer loans in Maryland after finding the company used predatory tactics and charged excessive interest rates. Western Sky Financial, located on a reservation in Timber Lake, S.D., has said it was not required to follow Maryland law because of tribal immunity, according to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The labor department's Division of Financial Regulation said Thursday it has issued a final cease and desist order against Western Sky, its owner Martin Webb and other related parties.

Maryland could become one of a handful of states that grant special driver's licenses to illegal immigrants under legislation garnering strong support in Annapolis. The bill, passed by the Senate on Monday, would expand and make permanent an existing two-tiered driver's license system to include more than 100,000 people whose immigration status currently prevents them from applying for a license. Gov. Martin O'Malley backs the plan, which now moves to the House of Delegates. "It's a safety issue," said Del. Jolene Ivey, a Prince George's County Democrat who introduced the House version.

What's the difference between a porch and a deck?That's the question from a reader in Baltimore, who notes she sees a lot of articles about deck construction, but wants to know, "Why don't I see articles about porch construction (especially since they have become popular again)?"As for definition, we would consider a porch to be (a): an integral part of the structure of the house. It often constitutes an entrance because of characteristic (b): porches have roofs. (If they don't have roofs they're stoops or terraces)

Undercover federal agents rented a booth at Patapsco Flea Market to gain access to its management as part of a 2 1/2 -year sting targeting merchants selling counterfeit and pirated goods - an investigation that resulted in a raid Sunday on the Southwest Baltimore marketplace, according to a search warrant and affidavit released Monday. Capping the intensive investigation into fake brand-name clothes and accessories, as well as pirated DVDs and musical recordings, special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations confiscated numerous items being sold at the sprawling market.