MILESTONES

By ELIZABETH L. BLAND, LISA GRANATSTEIN, TAM GRAY, ANITA HAMILTON, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, MICHAEL KRANTZ, NADYA LABI, DANIEL S. LEVY, ALAIN SANDERS, JOEL STEIN

RESIGNING. JANE ALEXANDER, 57, the stalwart chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts; now that both houses of Congress have approved its $98 million budget; in Washington.

SETTLEMENT REACHED. Between the TOBACCO INDUSTRY and NORMA BROIN, 42, lead plaintiff in the $5 billion class action filed on behalf of 60,000 flight attendants seeking damages for secondhand-smoke-related health problems; in Miami. Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson Tobacco and Lorillard agreed to pay $300 million to set up a research foundation on cancer.

AWARDED. To the parents of SERGIO JIMENEZ II, the six-year-old boy who died in 1994 after being thrown from a Dodge Caravan with a defective rear latch: $262.5 million in damages; in Charleston, S.C. Chrysler Corp. plans to appeal the judgment, reportedly the largest rendered against a U.S. automaker.

DIED. YEVGENI KHALDEI, 80, World War II photographer who pointedly snapped Russia's famous answer to America's iconic image of the flag raising on Iwo Jima: a lone soldier waving the Soviet standard over a devastated Berlin; in Moscow.

DIED. JOHNNY VANDER MEER, 82, Cincinnati Reds southpaw who pitched the only back-to-back no-hitters in major-league history; in Tampa, Fla. Vander Meer's career was ordinary, except for two extraordinary days in 1938, when he got a handle on his wild fastball, goose-egging both the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

DIED. BERTRAND GOLDBERG, 84, bold architect who redefined Chicago's skyline in the 1960s with the corncob-shaped towers of Marina City; in Chicago.

DIED. ARTHUR TRACY, 98, radio's sentimental Street Singer, who peddled his wares (remember Marta?) on the airwaves of the 1930s; in New York City. Tracy's identity was kept secret when he made his radio debut at CBS in 1931.