Names in the news: Filibustering, hacking, chick lit, and more

Sen. Jeff Merkley ’82 , D-Ore., is one of the leaders in a movement on Capitol Hill to reform the filibuster. [ The New Yorker ]

New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth ’04 spoke with On the Media€ about her story detailing attempts by Chinese hackers to infiltrate the Times’ computers. [ WNYC ]

In a recent interview, author Jodi Picoult ’87 quipped that ”it would be news to the 47 percent of people who write me fan mail who happen to be men to find out that I write chick lit.” [ New York Times Magazine ]

New Orleans lawyer and civic leader William Hines ’78 was selected as Rex 2013, king of Carnival, for the city’s famed Mardi Gras celebration. [ Times Picayune ]

Frederick Ilchman ’90, curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, helped to put together an acclaimed exhibit of works by the 16th-century painter Veronese, now open in Sarasota, Fla. [ Wall Street Journal ]

Financier Maggie Todd ’05 told the story of how she lost her hand in a freak jet-skiing accident, and how it’s changed her life in ways large and small. [ New York Magazine ]