Milestones

By Kathleen Adams, M.M. Buechner, Daniel Eisenberg, Tam Gray, Anita Hamilton, Glenn Kaplan, Jodie Morse, Michele Orecklin, Alain Sanders, Hiroko Tashiro, Susan Veitch

RELEASED. WANG DAN, 29, Chinese dissident who helped lead the ill-fated 1989 democracy rallies in Beijing; on "medical parole" from an 11-year sentence for subversion. He flew to the U.S. for treatment.

RETIRING. ROBERT CRANDALL, 62, rough and tough president of American Airlines for 18 years, who pioneered such innovations as frequent-flyer miles and supersaver fares; in Fort Worth, Texas.

NEW TRIAL GRANTED. To SHAREEF COUSIN, a 19-year-old on death row and the subject of a Jan. 19, 1998, TIME investigation; by the Louisiana Supreme Court; in New Orleans. Citing the prosecutor's "flagrant misuse" of key evidence, the justices reversed Cousin's murder conviction in a 7-to-0 decision.

DIED. ALEX RITCHIE, 53, intrepid British balloonist whose airborne acrobatics--and buoyancy of spirit--last year averted mogul Richard Branson's balloon team's death by deflation; from injuries suffered during a parachute jump; in London.

DIED. TERRY SANFORD, 80, Governor, Senator and presidential candidate from North Carolina. Tagged one of the century's 10 best Governors in a Harvard study, Sanford aided integration and overhauled public education in his state; he was also president of Duke University for 16 years.

DIED. MAURICE STANS, 90, the power behind Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election purse, who bagged the record $61 million in donations that would later help fund Watergate's dirty tricks; in Pasadena, Calif. An accountant by training and Nixon's Commerce Secretary, Stans had a knack for getting fat cats to show him the money, but he maintained that he was not behind its scandalous use. He eventually pleaded guilty to five campaign-finance violations, but the disgrace never eclipsed his fund-raising powers or his loyalty: he raised $30 million for the Nixon library.