Milestones

By Kathleen Adams, Melissa August, AnnMarie Bonardi, Randy Hartwell, Ellin Martens, Lisa McLaughlin, Joseph Pierro, Sora Song and Joel Stein

INDICTED. MARJORIE KNOLLER, 45, and ROBERT NOEL, 59; for involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous animal that caused a person's death; in San Francisco. In January two attack dogs in Knoller and Noel's care mauled a neighbor to a grisly death in the hallway of the couple's apartment building. Knoller, who was present during the attack, is also charged with second-degree murder.

BARRED. Admission standards at the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LAW SCHOOL that allow race to be a determining factor in judging applicants; by a federal judge, who declared the policies unconstitutional. The school was sued by a white woman who claimed she was denied admission in 1997 to make room for less qualified minorities. School officials defended their admission standards, adopted in 1992, which call for a "critical mass of minority students" geared to effect a diverse educational environment. Last year another federal judge declared Michigan's undergraduate race-sensitive admission policy constitutional.

ARRESTED. JAMES KOPP, 46, radical anti-abortion activist on the FBI's 10-most-wanted list; for the 1998 shooting death of New York abortion doctor Barnett Slepian; at a post office in Dinan, France. Kopp was on the run for two years. In the U.S., he could face the death penalty, but his arrest in France may complicate prosecution. French law prohibits extradition of foreign nationals to countries where they can be sentenced to death.

MISCARRIED. NICOLE KIDMAN, star of Eyes Wide Shut and To Die For, recently separated from husband Tom Cruise; in Los Angeles. Kidman, mother to adopted children Isabella, 8, and Connor, 6, is reported to have lost the baby shortly after Cruise filed for divorce last month.

AILING. SUZANNE SOMERS, 54, ebullient actress, fitness guru and diet-book author; with breast cancer. Against her doctors' advice, Somers is forgoing traditional chemotherapy, pursuing instead an untested homeopathic treatment.

DIED. JOHN LEWIS, 80, primary composer and musical director of the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet; after a battle with prostate cancer; in New York City. Lewis joined classical sensibilities with jazz improv to create his distinct sound and insisted that the M.J.Q. perform in tuxes in an attempt to make jazz as respectable as classical music. His compositions Django and Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West have become jazz standards.

DIED. FRANCIS YOHANNAN, 79, World War II bombardier and inspiration for the antihero Captain Yossarian in Joseph Heller's satiric novel Catch-22; in Spokane, Wash. Yohannan, who served with Heller in Corsica, was not a rebel; in the Air Force, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Bronze Star.

DIED. MAUDE RUTHERFORD, 104, the "Slim Princess" and Cotton Club singer and dancer who claimed to have introduced the Charleston to Broadway in the 1922 all-black revue Liza; in Atlantic City, N.J. Despite her considerable talent, Rutherford, who worked with Josephine Baker, was usually cast as comic relief, never the star.