When Indiana Governor Frank O’Bannon collapsed and later died from a stroke last September, Lieutenant Governor Joe Kernan ’68 ascended to the governor’s post. Kernan, a former mayor of South Bend, had previously announced that he would not run to succeed O’Bannon, who was prevented from seeking another term because of term limits. He later reconsidered and announced he will seek the office in 2004. . . . Justice Department prosecutor* John Dion ‘68* is overseeing the investigation into whether a member of the Bush administration leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer in retaliation for her husband’s criticism of the Iraq war. Dion heads the department’s counterespionage unit. . . . Steve Bartman ’99 became a target of intense scorn from many of his fellow Chicago Cubs fans after he was identified as the person who tried to catch a foul fly hit down the left field line in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field. Replays suggested that Cubs left-fielder Moises Alou may have had a play on the ball, which Bartman, seated in the first row, reached up for along with others in his section. The catch would have produced the second out of the inning with the Cubs still in front 3-0. A Cubs win would have clinched the team’s first World Series appearance since 1945. But the Florida Marlins rallied to take the game and then the series before eventually beating the New York Yankees in the World Series. . . . The Fort Wayne (Indiana) News-Sentinel profiled Angela Flood ’89, a Fort Wayne native who serves as special assistant to President Bush and deputy director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. . . . Tom Hannigan ’74 has been serving as lead attorney for the Boston Archdiocese as it seeks to settle more than 500 lawsuits associated with the priest sex-abuse scandal. . . . José Antonio Ocampo ’72 was appointed United Nations under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs at the U.N. headquarters in New York City. . . . Allen Hemberger ’01 served as color and lighting technical director on the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions . . . . A Notre Dame connection helped lead the Detroit Shock to last year’s WNBA title. Ruth Riley ’01 scored a career-high 27 points to help the Shock win the deciding Game 3 of the league finals and was named Finals Most Valuable Player. Detroit Coach Bill Laimbeer ’79 selected Riley first overall in a dispersal draft after Riley’s original team, the Miami Sol, folded. Riley and Sheryl Swoopes are the only two women to have been voted finals MVPs in both the college and pro basketball ranks. . . . Shannon Boxx ’99 was one of the bright spots on the United States’ disappointing World Cup women’s soccer team, which finished third. The midfielder was named a first-team all-star for the tournament. She set a U.S. record by scoring in her first three international games. . . . Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts promoted Danica L. Petroshius ’91 to chief of his staff. Her predecessor in the post left to become campaign manager for presidential candidate John Kerry. . . . Tom McDermott ’00J.D. was elected mayor of Hammond, Indiana, near Chicago, becoming the first Democrat in 20 years to win the office. He defeated the hand-picked successor of his father, Tom, Sr., a Republican from California who won the office in 1983. The elder McDermott was the first Republican to win the office in 60 years. Father and son both were elected at the same age, 34. . . . The Wall Street Journal Online told the story of John Crowley ’92, who about five years ago quit his job as a financial consultant and formed a biotech company to search for a cure for Pompe disease, a rare, fatal illness from which two of his three children suffer. He later sold the company to a larger one, hoping it would speed development of a treatment, but then the company decided to test the drug on infants first to speed FDA approval. His children had to wait months until special arrangements could be made for their treatment with the experimental drug. According to the article, posted in August, the older of the two affected children, daughter Megan, 6, was showing marked improvement. . . . Anthony Earley Jr. ’71, ’79J.D., ’79M.S. won praise from many quarters, including the Michigan governor’s office, for how the electrical utility he heads, DTE Energy (formerly Detroit Edison), responded to the massive blackout that hit the East Coast and Midwest last August. . . . Paul R. Charron ’64 is chairman and chief executive officer of Liz Claiborne Inc. . . . U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno ’74 of Miami has been put in charge of a long-running lawsuit against the state of Florida for allowing farm and urban runoff to pollute the Everglades. . . . The Notre Dame Club of Greater Orlando and the N. Donald Diebel Jr., M.D. Good Samaritan Fund announced their sponsorship of a bedroom dubbed “The Diebel Room” at the new Ronald McDonald House in downtown Orlando. In June 2002 Diebel ’89 stopped on a Florida Interstate at about 1 in the afternoon to try and help a newlywed couple trapped in an overturned pickup. He and a firefighter were both killed when a tractor-trailer lost control on the wet pavement and struck them. Diebel’s wife, Karen (McGuigan) Diebel ’89, and their three young children remained in their car when he got out to help. The family was on its way to visit Karen’s parents in Georgia. Dr. Diebel, 35, practiced obstetrics with his father, N. Donald Sr. ’64, in Winter Park, Florida. . . . The Dallas Morning News profiled Salem Abraham ’88 and his commodities investment firm, located above a steak house in tiny Canadian, Texas, which uses computer programs to buy and sell 5,000 futures contracts every day. . . . Chicago magazine and other media have been profiling Jim O’Connor ’95, founder and principal of a new college-prep middle school in the low-income Austin neighborhood on the city’s west side. . . . Augusto Villalon ’66 headed a team of conservation specialists that restored the historic headquarters of Gota de Leche (Drop of Milk) in Manila, the Philippines; the organization provides free milk and medical care to indigent children. The restored building received honorable mention in the 2003 United Nations Educational, Scientific Organization (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation. . . . A feature in the Denver Post recalled the participation of 1942 Irish football captain George Murphy ’43 in the Marines’ “Mosquito Bowl” game on Guadalcanal during World War II. Murphy later died leading his platoon in the battle for Sugar Loaf Hill on Okinawa.