Milestones

ARRESTED. Paris Hilton, 25, celebrity by declaration; for driving under the influence of alcohol; after police observed her steering her Mercedes-Benz "erratically" as she was returning from a charity event; in Hollywood. Having spent the day shooting a video for her new album, Hilton explained, she may have been "speeding a little bit" because "I was just really hungry and I wanted to have an In-N-Out burger."

CLEARED. Marion Jones, 30, champion sprinter; of using the endurance booster erythropoietin, for which she tested positive in June; in a follow-up, or B, test; by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency; in Colorado Springs, Colo. The five-time Olympic medalist, who faced a two-year ban from the sport, said she was "ecstatic." She is expected to resume racing at this week's World Cup in Athens.

DIED. Willi Ninja, 45, lithe, athletic club dancer who, as the star of the 1990 dance-club documentary Paris Is Burning, popularized vogue dancers, a then obscure subculture of New York City drag ballrooms; of AIDS-related heart failure; in New York City. Born William Leake, the charismatic, self- described "butch queen" taught the martial-arts-inspired movements in Europe, worked as a runway model for designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and taught fashionistas like Naomi Campbell how to strut with flair.

DIED. Guy Gabaldon, 80, who as an 18-year-old Marine in World War II earned the Navy Cross for persuading more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians to surrender during the Battle of Saipan, a feat depicted in the 1960 movie Hell to Eternity; in Old Town, Fla. Relying on adrenaline and a few Japanese phrases, Gabaldon convinced his enemies that the alternative to surrendering with dignity was a more violent capture by awaiting U.S. forces. "I must have seen too many John Wayne movies," he later wrote. "Because what I was doing was suicidal."

DIED. Nellie Connally, 87, publicly reserved, witty former First Lady of Texas and last surviving passenger of the limousine in which President Kennedy was shot; in Austin, Texas. Moments after the Texas hostess, dressed in pink like First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, turned toward the backseat and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you," gunfire erupted. Though she originally intended her notes from the tragic day to remain private, the philanthropic widow of former Governor John Connally later shared her recall of Nov. 22, 1963, telling the A.P., "It's the image of yellow roses and red roses and blood all over the car ... all over us. I'll never forget it. It was so quick and so short, so potent."

DIED. Astrid Varnay, 88, Swedish-American soprano whose intense, passionate style energized some of the most demanding roles of German opera, including Strauss's Elektra and Wagner's Isolde, Kundry and Brunnhilde (she sang Brunnhilde more than 300 times); in Munich. Her career took off unexpectedly in 1941 after she was called in as a last-minute, last-choice understudy to play Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walkure at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, where she eventually performed 200 times. Of her emotional style, she said, "I feel my roles first, then I put them into action."

With reporting by Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Jeninne Lee-St. John, Clayton Neuman, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, James Poniewozik