Milestones

By Melissa August, Michelle Derrow, Tam Gray, Daniel S. Levy, Lina Lofaro and David Spitz

RETIRING. BARRY SANDERS, 31, Detroit Lions running back. Sanders was 1,458 yds. short of breaking Walter Payton's NFL career rushing record. Yet strained dealings with his team drove the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner with a $36 million contract to head to London instead of training camp.

TRANSFERRED. AIR FORCE GENERAL JOSEPH RALSTON, 55, to NATO commander, from his current post as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In May, Ralston will replace Army General Wesley Clark, who ran NATO's war against Yugoslavia.

BORN. HUGO WENTZEL, 7 lbs. 13 oz., to AMY CARTER, 31, daughter of President Jimmy Carter, and her husband JAMES WENTZEL; in Atlanta.

FILED FOR DIVORCE. NEWT GINGRICH, 56, former House Speaker, from second wife MARIANNE, 47, after 18 years; in Cobb County, Ga. According to court papers, the marriage is "irretrievably broken."

CONVICTED. IRA EINHORN, 58, fugitive; of wrongful death; in Philadelphia. Einhorn, who is fighting extradition from France, was found guilty in absentia in 1993 for the 1977 murder of his girlfriend Helen Maddux. Last week a jury ordered him to pay her family $907 million.

DIED. SANDRA GOULD, 73, actress; in Burbank, Calif. A veteran of hundreds of radio programs and two dozen films, she is best remembered as Gladys Kravitz, the rarely welcome next-door neighbor on Bewitched, and as Betty Rubble's voice on The Flintstones.

DIED. HARRY "SWEETS" EDISON, 83, jazz trumpeter; in Columbus, Ohio. Initially tagged "Sweetie Pie" by saxophonist Lester Young in the 1930s and finally just "Sweets," Edison had a warm, soft trumpet sound that was beloved by bands and singers. He worked with everyone from Count Basie (with whom he played for 12 years) to Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.