Ferguson's White Powder Scare; Dakota Fanning's a NYU Student

Plus: John Slattery rushes to defend January Jones' niceness

Welcome to the Smart Set. Every morning we bring you the gossip coverage, filtered. Today: Craig Ferguson tapes his show despite an Anthrax scare, Dakota Fanning is supposedly headed to New York University in the fall, and John Slattery defends January Jones's approachability

• Taping for the The Late, Late Show went ahead as planned last night, even after host Craig Ferguson received a threatening letter filled with a white powder the sender claimed was Anthrax, but was actually harmless. At least Ferguson used the scare to avoid having to do any last-minute earthquake jokes. "I was going to come out and talk about the earthquake," he explained to the audience, "but I can’t do that now. Because the earthquake only scared millions of people on the East Coast, but the white powder did something much worse — it scared me.” [Arts Beat]
• It looks like Dakota Fanning is going to New York University in the fall. This according to the folks at the school-specific blog NYULocal who were "messing around in the new NYU Gmail system (because why not) and saw that [Fanning's] name and Net ID are in the autocomplete directory." This seems reasonable. How many other Dakota Fannings could there be in the NYU Class of 2015? The blog reported back in February that Fanning had been accepted into the university's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. [NYULocal via Gawker]
• John Slattery came to the defense of his Mad Men co-star January Jones, after the departing eleven-year-old actor who plays her TV son cautioned future Bobby Drapers to "Be careful around January" in an interview with TV Guide. Not so, according to Slattery."She's a sweetheart," Slattery assured E! "We got lucky. We don't have anybody like that." He then appeared to hedge. "[W]ell, it's an intimidating character. I mean, that's the character. Betty Draper is an intimidating woman, I suppose, if you were a seven-year-old boy [or] her son." Or daughter. Or husband. Or housekeeper. Or neighbor who keeps birds. [E! via Vulture]
• Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are not, in fact, splitting up after 13 years of marriage, if you believe the joint statement the couple issued yesterday their marriage is "intact" and Twitter feed of their oldest son Trey,  which has been dominated over the past day with updates like: "Did #WillandJada split? No they did NOT split ! False information ..its not true RETWEET!!!" The new In Touch promised "exclusive" details of the supposed split, allegations an unnamed source told rival celebrity magazine US Weekly are "total bullshit." [People and US]
• "Nearly 50 employees" at Jive Records were laid-off yesterday as the famous label was folded into RCA, part of Sony Music's effort to "consolidate its labels." According to an insider, " none of the [Jive] artists have been axed -- yet -- but most of the promotions department has been demolished." Jive stars Pink, Chris Brown, and Usher will apparently now be managed by RCA. The label didn't respond to requests for comment [Page Six]

• Former Bristol Palin squeeze Levi Johnston won't be running for mayor of Wasilla after all, his attorney tells the Associated Press. The lawyer didn't offer specifics, but noted Johnston has a busy schedule, which includes "a book and tour scheduled next month." The news is likely to devastate anyone who's ever dreamed of getting complicated, public revenge against a former lover's parent by seeking the elected office they once held as part of a reality television show. [AP via Jezebel]
• Former Lois Lane Margot Kidder was one of "20 to 30 activists who performed a sit-in on the sidewalk beside the White House" and ended up being arrested by Park police yesterday. They were there to "protest the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will pump crude drawn from Canadian oil fields through the American heartland to Texas-based refineries." [The Reliable Source]