Milestones

By Melissa August, Val Castronovo, Matthew Cooper, Daniel Levy, Ellin Martens, Michele Orecklin, Julie Rawe, Owen Thomas and Josh Tyrangiel

CHARGED. RAY LEWIS, 24, Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl linebacker; with the fatal stabbing of two men after a Super Bowl party; in Atlanta. Lewis, who last season pledged $100 to the Police Athletic League for every 10 tackles he made, is the second NFL player to be charged with murder this year.

HOSPITALIZED. KURT VONNEGUT, 77, Slaughterhouse-Five author, in critical but stable condition owing to smoke inhalation; following a small fire in his home caused by a burning cigarette; in New York City.

DIED. DORIS KENNER-JACKSON, 58, singer with the '60s pop-rock sensations the Shirelles; of complications from breast cancer; in Sacramento, Calif. She was the lead vocalist on the legendary 1959 hit Dedicated to the One I Love.

DIED. CARL ALBERT, 91, Oklahoma Democrat and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1971 to '77; in McAlester, Okla. A coal miner's son, he represented Oklahoma's Third District for 30 years until retiring in 1977 and twice stood a heartbeat away from the presidency. A pragmatist, he said, "I like to face issues in terms of conditions and not in terms of someone's inborn political philosophy."

RETIRED. DICK VERMEIL, 63, head coach of the St. Louis Rams; less than two days after leading the Rams to a Super Bowl victory; in St. Louis, Mo.

DIED. GIL KANE, 73, self-taught comic-book artist whose half-century career included reviving Green Lantern in the late 1950s and the Atom soon after, and reinterpreting other great superheroes, from Spider-Man and the Hulk to Captain America and Conan the Barbarian; of cancer; in Miami.

DIED. RICHARD KLEINDIENST, 76, Nixon Attorney General who stepped down during Watergate and later pleaded guilty to a minor antitrust-scandal charge; in Prescott, Ariz.

DIED. HAROLD GREENE, 76, federal judge who presided over the antitrust suit that broke up telephone colossus AT&T and who, as a young lawyer, drafted key civil rights legislation; in Washington.

DIED. BONNIE CASHIN, 84, innovative designer who eschewed Parisian fashion and helped popularize casual clothes. She pioneered the concept of layering.