America, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief: there will be no Britney vs. K-Fed divorce battle. I know we’ll all sleep better at night now.

UPDATE: Details here:

Britney Spears has reached a $1 million divorce settlement with her ex-husband Kevin Federline. …

Federline will walk away with much less money than expected because of the airtight pre-nup Spears’s lawyer devised. The final deal also means Spears, 25, and Federline, 28, will have joint custody of their sons - Sean Preston, 18 months, and six-month-old Jayden James.

[Bumped to top. -ed.]

With 54 comments and counting on my previous post about Notre Dame Law School’s precipitous drop in the U.S. News rankings (which became official today), it’s clear there is considerable concern among students and alumni about what’s going on. So perhaps it’s not a huge surprise that Dean Patty O’Hara, in an e-mail to students today, gave a much lengthier and more nuanced response to the news than she did to the rankings drop two years ago.

What is a bit surprising is how Dean O’Hara chose to spin her decision to give such a detailed response. She writes, “I thought a few more words might be in order this year because the direction of the movement is negative” — but the movement was negative in 2005, too, and yet she used the same boilerplate e-mail in both ‘05 and ‘06 (when the movement was positive). Both the 2005 and 2006 e-mails were just three paragraphs long, and neither contained any of the language about “examin[ing] the data behind the criteria” and “determin[ing] in what ways we may be able to improve” that appears in today’s e-mail.

Whether Dean O’Hara’s departure from her standard annual rankings response is simply a reflection of the magnitude of this year’s drop (six spots, versus four in 2005), or whether it reflects a broader reality of increasing pressure on her from students and faculty, is anyone’s guess. Anyway, the full e-mail, which went out this morning via the law-school listserv, is after the jump.

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And here I thought the Geneva Conventions were really, really important. Apparently not:

I just checked Amnesty International’s web site for to get a copy of their demand that the Iranians release the British prisoners and condemning the statements made under coercive conditions and the broadcast of the images of the prisoners.

Surprise. There isn’t one.

There is, however, a report titled “USA: Justice delayed and justice denied? Trials under the Military Commissions Act.” I eagerly await the report similarly condemning the show trials Iran may be planning for the kidnapped soldiers.

Speaking of useless international organizations, the U.N. has expressed “grave concern” over the standoff between the U.K. and Iran — but heaven forbid it go further and, you know, specifically condemn the Iranian action and demand the soldiers’ immediate and unconditional release. That would be taking sides! Nevermind that one side is violating international law, and the other isn’t…

The Security Council’s statement was a watered-down version of a stronger draft sought by Britain to “deplore” Iranian actions and urge the immediate release of the prisoners, primarily because Russia and South Africa opposed putting blame on the Tehran regime, diplomats said.

As I said: useless.

Mickey Kaus: “Do [New York] Times reporters talk only to the interest group that hands them the study?”

What’s wrong with these pictures? Look closely at the spelling of the word “Virginia.”

Teehee. (Hat tip: AOL Fanhouse.)

Heh.

Another tragedy has happened in Newington, and this one strikes at the heart of the Boisvert/Donlin clan that produced so many fine athletes and wonderful people during my time at NHS. I am just devastated to learn that Kerri Donlin, a member of the Newington High School Class of 1998, has died at the age of 27.

I didn’t know Kerri terribly well, but I attended many of her soccer games (she went on to play for the University of New Haven), and her cousin Tara is one of my best friends in Newington. That whole extended family is just great, full of so many genuinely nice people, and it’s horrible that they’re dealing with a tragedy like this. (Kerri’s death may have been caused by a heart condition of some kind, but it’s still not entirely clear. Anyway, it was totally unexpected.)

The wake is Sunday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Newington Memorial Funeral Home, and the funeral is Monday at 9 a.m., I guess starting at Newington Memorial and then processing to the Church of the Holy Spirit for a Mass at 10 a.m. The obit says that memorial donations can be made to the American Heart Association, 2550 U.S. Highway 1, North Brunswick, NJ 08902.

Friends can share a memory and leave messages of condolence for the family on the Newington Memorial site. You can read what others have written here.

Rest in peace, Kerri.

P.S. Here is Kerri’s MySpace page, which has now become something of a tribute page as well.

Gary Kirby, a.k.a. “Gahrie,” won the 3rd annual BrendanLoy.com NIT Pool when West Virginia beat Clemson in the championship game Thursday night, just as Kirby’s bracket predicted. He is the only contestant to successfully predict both finalists and the champion.

Last year’s runner-up, Kirby make just five mistakes in 31 games this year, finishing with 268 out of a possible 317 points. He erred on 2 of the 16 first-round games, 2 of 8 regional semifinals, and 1 of 4 regional finals. Although the numerical scores can’t be compared directly to previous years’ pools because of changes to the NIT’s format, Kirby got 84.5% of the available points, which easily beats the previous winning totals, Tom K.’s 48.4% in 2005 and Brad Miller’s 73.1% in 2006.

Kirby, who attended USC from 1983 to 1987, is the second Trojan to win a BrendanLoy.com NIT pool. K., the champion of the first annual pool, is a 2003 ‘SC grad.

I figure a pool championship is worth a gratuitous blog link, so… please check out Kirby’s blog, Gahrie’s Grumbles and Groans. :)

Colleen Duggan, a 2005 graduate of Sacred Heart University, finished second with 234 points — a record 34 points behind Kirby. (K.’s and Miller’s margins in ‘05 and ‘06 were 2 and 16 points, respectively.) She would have won the pool if Clemson had won Thursday’s title game.

Michigan senior Cam Thomas finished third with 218 points. TCU grad Dana O’Shea was fourth with 213. Notre Dame law student Stephen Leys rounded out the top five with 211 points.

Full final standings are here and after the jump.

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