Have I Met You?: Leaders of the...

Have I Met You?: Leaders of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal sent astrologer Joan Quigley a letter asking for proof of her claim that President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met in an earlier life. At a convention in Washington, D.C., Paul Kurtz, a philosopher at the State University of New York said the group did not really expect a reply from Nancy Reagan’s former astrologer.

Lazy Eye: “We’re very lazy in journalism today,” Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said last week in Forest Grove, Ore. “Reporting is not Sam Donaldson screaming over a helicopter. Reporting is finding out what conditions exist.” Bernstein was in a university debate with Michael Deaver, former deputy White House chief of staff convicted of perjury. “The media . . . was lazy,” Deaver said. “Yes, we fed them. And yes, they ate it every day.”

Fooled You: A University of Miami student newspaper ran an April Fools’ Day prank story on Friday saying Manuel Noriega was on a work-release program at the university and would teach “Geography of Coca-Growing Regions.” “Students were threatening to drop out,” said Tom Higgens, Miami Hurricane editor. A fake quote had President Edward T. Foote saying: “This is a proud moment for the university . . . .”

Honors: University of Alaska officials and students at the Soviet Embassy last week presented Mikhail Gorbachev with an honorary doctorate of humanities--believed to be the first time a Soviet leader has ever received an honorary American degree. The Soviet president recently opened the border the state shares with his country to unrestricted trade and travel.