Milestones May 23, 2005

STRUCK DOWN. A Nebraska constitutional amendment imposing a BAN ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE; by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon; in response to a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal; in Lincoln, Neb. The measure, passed by voters in 2000, went further than those in other states by denying such legal protections as health insurance to gay couples, and possibly interfering with rights of adoptive and foster parents. Conservatives unhappy with the ruling vowed to press for a federal ban.

EXECUTED. MICHAEL BRUCE ROSS, 45, convicted serial killer; by lethal injection, ending 21 years of protracted, high-profile legal proceedings; in New England's first execution in 45 years; in Somers, Conn. The Cornell University graduate and former life-insurance salesman said he wanted to die to help ease the pain of the families of the eight young girls and women he killed, most of whom he also raped, in the early 1980s. After witnessing the execution, one victim's family member said, "It was too peaceful."

DIED. BETTY TALMADGE, 81, prominent Washington socialite and entrepreneur who made headlines in the late 1970s when she testified before the Senate Ethics Committee against her estranged husband, Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge; in Atlanta. A witty Southerner who started and ran a successful business, she learned on a TV news show that her husband planned to divorce her. Later, under subpoena, she testified that he kept bundles of $100 bills, allegedly unreported donations, in a coat pocket in the couple's hall closet. Although he denied that and other charges, she turned over 77 of the bills from the stash, which she said she had often relied on to supplement her $50 a week allowance, and the Senate later denounced him.

DIED. JAY MARSHALL, 85, magician-ventriloquist dubbed the Dean of Magic by the Society of American Magicians; in Chicago. An opening act for performers from Frank Sinatra to Milton Berle and a frequent guest on the Ed Sullivan Show, he would banter with his brash puppet, Lefty, and perform signature tricks like the Jaspernese Thumb Tie, in which his crossed thumbs, securely interlocked, penetrated spectators' legs, chairs and other objects.

DIED. LLOYD CUTLER, 87, consummate lawyer, mediator and Washington insider who, as a private attorney representing clients from IBM to American Express, and as White House counsel to Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, won the admiration of Democrats and Republicans for his expertise in navigating crises; in Washington. The courtly intellectual's feats of diplomacy included persuading the deposed Shah of Iran to leave the U.S. for Panama during the Iranian hostage crisis; helping manage the media during Clinton's Whitewater flap; and urging onetime client Mick Jagger to wear a tie to Washington's tony Metropolitan Club. A lifelong Democrat, he recently served on President Bush's commission to investigate pre-9/11 intelligence failures.