Newsmakers

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "If professors were regularly suing their students for anti-intellectual don't think many would graduate." - WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE WRITER JOE RAGO '05 ON FORMER DARTMOUTH LECTURER PRIYA VENKATESAN '90, WHO THREATENED HER FORMER STUDENTS WITH LEGAL ACTION AFTER THEY APPLAUDED A CIASSMATE WHO DISAGREED WITH HER

Infant hearing screenings will soon be mandatory in Tennessee, thanks to "Claires Law," named after the 2-year- old daughter of Michelle and Matt Puryear '95. When their daughter was born, her hearing was never tested at the hospital. "That was the last thing we thought about," Matt told the Nashville Tennessean last March. "She seemed for all intents and purposes healthy." Five months later they discovered she was deaf (a cochlear implant now enables her to hear in a normal range). The Puryears have since pushed for passage of the screening law, which the governor signed in May and will go into effect on July i....Since switching from print to television journalism in 2002 ABC News senior national correspondent Jake Tapper '91 has been getting a lot of airtime—-231 minutes in 2007 alone, more than any network correspondent, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine. "Politics is really a drug to Jake," Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC's World News, told Broadcasting & Cable in March. "There is nobody more obsessed."...ln the "Spotlight" piece in the May-June issue on Peter Prichard '66 and his new Newseum in Washington, D.C, we neglected to mention the role of design principal Robert Young 'B4. Young is an architect with New York-based Polshek Partnership Architects, which created the glass structure using transpar- ency—a metaphor for a free press and open society—as a guiding principle. Young told readexpress.com in April that the buildings three levels were designed to look a lot like the newspapers its dedicated to. "The first level is like reading the headline, then you peel deeper into the other sections of the newspaper," says Young, who is now working on the new National Museum of American Jewish History in Phila- delphia....The final project Christopher Meledandri '81 greenlit as president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation was a doozy: Horton Hears a Who earned rave reviews and nearly $100 million at the box office in under two weeks when it opened last March. Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A-" and wrote that Horton is true to the vision of creator Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel '25), "with a contemporary integrity that makes full use of [computer-generated] power without sacrificing the delicacy of the authors springy, zingy illustrations."... Just hours before a speaking engagement to the Republican Club of West Florida last February, Anna Holliday "Holly" Benson '93 was notified by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist that he had changed her job from secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration. The former Florida state legislator still delivered her speech—and spoke about her hopes of providing affordable health insurance through private insurers as the new health care secretary, according to a Jackson County Floridian article last February....ln her book Fat Envelope Frenzy: One Year, Five Promising Students, and the Pursuit of the Ivy League Prize, Joie Jager-Hyman '00 tracked five students, including an Olympic gymnast and a piano prodigy, hoping to gain admission to Harvard. "I wanted to show that college admissions decisions are nor personal," the former Dartmouth assistant director of admissions and current Harvard Ph.D. student told The Dartmouth last March. "It's competitive, its not personal. They're building a class."... Chicago lawyer Michael Behn '83 won a $4.3 million settlement in March for pharmacist Bernard Lisitza, who blew the whistle on drugstore chain CVS. The lawsuit alleged that CVS filled Medicaid patients' prescriptions for the generic tablet form of ulcer medication Zantac with the more expensive capsule version to receive a higher reimbursement. "It's one thing to substitute a less-expensive generic for the brand name," Behn told Bloomberg.com of the lawsuit that cost CVS $36.7 million total to settle. "It's a different story when a pharmacy is switching to a more expensive drug."...Actress and singer Jennifer Leigh Warren '77 appeared on the March 13 episode of NBC's Lipstick Jungle singing "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me," in a concert arranged by Joe Bennett (Andrew McCarthy) for designer Victory Ford (Lindsay Price). Hear her music at www.myspace.com/jenniferleighwarrenmusic....Lord & Taylor used 20 Thomas Beale '00 sculptures to set off items from the spring collections in its Fifth Avenue storefront windows from February 13 through March 4. Beale, whose works are made primarily from natural materials such as shells and pieces of wood, was the youngest recipient in 2003 of the U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship, according to Fox Business.com....After Luke Fishback '02, Th'03 and his wife, Sarah Kate Nelson Fishback '02, became homeowners they installed a meter in the kitchen, linked it to a Web site he created to track electricity usage—and halved their bills. Now he's helping others monitor their usage with his company Visible Energy. "When you know just how much it costs, you are more likely to turn off a light when you leave the room," Fishback told The Ithaca Journal in March. For his energy conservation tips, go to www.visibleenergy.blog-spot.com. ...G.l. Joe will hit the big screen next August, thanks to Brian Goldner '85, the film's executive producer. Goldner, former COO and now CEO of toy company Hasbro, told MTV.com's movie Web site last March that the G.I Joe comic books are influencing the story: "We all really loved what G.I. Joe was about in the 19805."...1n his iconic sports film Major League, producer Chris Chesser '70 shot Sister Mary Assumpta wearing a Cleveland Indians jacket over her habit as she fed pigeons. Now, more than 15 years later, the two have teamed up to produce and distribute Nun Better cookies. While the Sisters of the Holy Spirit have been baking cookies for Indians players for 22 years, as reported by The Plain Dealer last October, with Chesser's help they're going worldwide and will use the profits to help care for the poor at the Jennings Center for Older Adults....Dr. W. Hardy Hendren '47, DMS'50, was fresh out of the Navy and "just a premedical student hoping to get into medical school" when he came to Dartmouth more than 60 years ago, according to a February article in The Providence Journal. Last winter the renowned pediatric surgeon was honored with the establishment of the W. Hardy Hendren Professorship in Surgery at the Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital. Lauded for his pioneering work in correcting congenital de- fects in infants and children, Hendrens difficult surgeries often lasted more than 24 hours, earning him the nickname "Hardly Human." Dr. James Mandell, the president and CEO of Hospital, where Hendren served as chief of surgery from 1982 through 1998, said that Hendren developed "novel, creative approaches to defects that really had no answer, offering hope to children and parents who had no other hope."...Chad Goodridge '01 plays three roles—including a punk band member and a Euro-bohemianin the critically acclaimed Broadway musical Passing Strange. The show has an open-ended run at the Belasco Theater. When it opened in late February The New York Times wrote, "Call it a rock concert with a story to tell, trimmed with a lot of great jokes. Or call it a sprawling work of performance art, complete with angry rants and scary drag queens...l'll just call it wonderful." ...Lynmar Brock '55, Tu'56, started working as a busboy in his family's contract food-service business at age 13. Last December, after 45 years as president of Brock and Cos., he turned over the reins to his son Andrew. As reported by the Daily Local News of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Brock plans to devote more time to his writing....lt's no wonder Gerald Phillips '47, Tu '47, was invited to speak at the American Bar Association's annual mediation and arbitration program last April in Seattle: The Los Angeles-based attorney's ability to settle disputes has been called "almost Solomonic." Formerly United Artists' legal counsel and vice president of special markets, he continues to practice entertainment law at Phillips, Lerner, Lauzon & Jamra, the firm founded by his daughter Stacy Phillips 'BO (read more on her in "Continuing Ed," page 104). "I don't consider it an honorable profession today," he told the Los Angeles Daily Journal in February. "One way I give back is through trying to help people solve their problems without court litigation."

Anna Holliday "Holly" Benson '93

Thomas Beale '00

W. Hardy Hendren '47, DMS'50

Chad Goodridge '01

QOUTE/UNQUOTE "It's clobberin' time." -SHOT-PUTTER AND 2004 OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST ADAM NELSON '97 ON GOING FOR GOLD AT THE BEIJING OLYMPICS