• Warren Brown, the owner of CakeLove bakeries (with an upcoming Canton location) who we recently profiled for his environmental practices, is facing new competition. The (Washington) Examiner reports that “cupcake wars” began with the recent opening of Georgetown Cupcake. Apparently, employees at G.C. say they’ve sold more than 1,000 cupcakes a day at $2.75 a pop. You have to wonder how many bakeries the sweets market can bear…

• Is recreational golf a dying industry? Our sister publication in Long Island and the NY Times each examined the declining popularity of the corporate leisure activity.

• MoCo Council President Mike Knapp explains the county’s new gender identity law, which aims to protect the rights of transgender citizens. The crux? “Some people are confused about the effect of this new law on … the use of a public bathroom or locker room,” said Knapp. “Nothing is any different than it was before. People can feel safe and confident that they can walk into the restroom. Their safety is as protected as it ever was.” Whew.

• Paul Gordon at Maryland Politics Watch writes about the “blurring of the line between civil marriage and religious marriage” in last year’s legislative debate on the Orthodox Jewish divorce law. He points out one opponent of said law, Sen. Anthony Muse (Democrat-Prince George’s), who, he says, is a “pivotal committee vote on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act” now up for debate.

• For our attorney readers: how would you feel if your nomination to become a federal judge was publicly protested by a former inmate?

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

Baltimore hip-hop promoter Tracye Stafford wants her money — and she’s not afraid to confront her alleged debtor in the court of public opinion as well as in the courts of judges and juries.

Stafford, whose IKON Entertainment allegedly promoted two concerts for Louisiana rappers Webbie and Lil Boosie for which the men did not perform, took advantage of Webbie’s appearance yesterday morning on popular Baltimore radio station 92Q to ask why he stiffed her.

In a lawsuit originally filed in September Baltimore City Circuit Court but since removed to federal court, Stafford has claimed $1 million in damages for the cost of hyping the shows and harm to her reputation.

“You can’t take people’s money and not show, sweetheart,” Stafford said on the show. “That’s not the business we’re in. We both got to make money, not just you.” (A video of the show is posted on YouTube, with Stafford’s call starting about 80 seconds into the post.)

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Webbie, nee Webster Gradney Jr., said while he stole purses as “a little bitty boy…I don’t play with money like that no more.” He also claimed not to even remember meeting Stafford.

When Marc Clarke, host of the station’s Big Phat Morning Show, asked if Webbie would give a free performance to settle the lawsuit — something Stafford said she has offered as a solution to the litigation —Webbie was equivocal.

“I don’t know,” he said. “My price is going up as we speak. I got the #1 song in the country right now.”

“Independent,” which features Lil Boosie and Lil Phat, is currently #2 on Billboard.com’s Hot Rap Tracks.

Attorneys for the rappers and their management company, Trill Entertainment, are now pressing to put the dispute to an arbitrator, not a jury.

BRENDAN KEARNEY, Legal Affairs Writer

LiveLeak has the video of the Pentagon briefing where General Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff discussed his “high level of confidence” that the rogue spy satellite has been destroyed. Video of the missile launch and “interception” with the satellite is included.

The Kaboom blog says:

While they can’t confirm completely the destruction of the tank, which was needed to release the toxic fuel that may have posed a danger to us Earthlings, the Pentagon has declared the mission a complete success and with good reason.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor