Does extra dimension theory interface with Hawking's latest statements on black holes and information ("Hawking changes his mind on black holes; Galactic traps may actually allow information to escape, author says")?
Not as far as I can tell. Hawking's work (which is still being checked, by the way) uses standard techniques of general relativity and quantum gravity. I'll refer you to another page by John Baez (who, incidentally, is performing a real service for webizens by trying to explain difficult ideas in physics and mathematics in a way that non-experts have some hope of understanding). Baez attended the talk at which Hawking announced his result. Here's Baez' report on that talk (including a transcript of Hawking's entire presentation):
This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics (Week 207) - July 25, 2004
You probably won't understand all of it (maybe not even much of it)—I only got glimpses and flashes of understanding when I read it, maybe a rough sense of the whole, but not many details. But just skip the parts you have trouble with and read the non-technical bits if nothing else. Baez has some interesting remarks later in the piece about the role of authorities in science (there aren't any 'Popes of science', as it were—everything has to be checked).