Everyone’s fired off a hasty email that they desperately wish they could take back. A new Gmail tool will let you do that whenever you please.

Dmail is a new browser extension for Google Chrome that gives people more control of how long others can view their Gmail messages. When sending an email through Gmail, users can set a specific time when the message will self-destruct, ranging anywhere from an hour to a week. And even emails without a specific self-destruct timer can still be recalled by the sender at an time, making them unviewable to the recipient.

The product was developed by the people who made the social bookmarking service Delicious. Eventually the team wants to expand the application to let users set self-destructing timers on other types of documents, such as PDFs.

Google itself seems to understand the value of being able to take back an email as well. The company recently made its Undo feature, which allows users to delete an email up to 30 seconds after it’s sent, standard across Gmail.

Summary: A new tool for Gmail lets you revoke access to messages whenever you please


PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks feasted on the Philadelphia Phillies' pitching for a second straight night. On Tuesday night they did so in record-setting fashion.

David Peralta hit a grand slam in an 11-run second inning and tied a career high with five RBIs, leading the Diamondbacks to a 13-1 victory.

The 11 runs -- all off starter David Buchanan -- were the second-most scored in an inning in Diamondbacks' history. Peralta and Aaron Hill hit home runs and Jeremy Hellickson became the second pitcher in club history to collect two hits in one inning.

"As soon as I hit the ball I knew it was gone," Peralta said. "It feels good when you do something to help the team win. We are doing really well right now."

The Diamondbacks (56-56) are .500 for the first time since July 8, when they were 42-42.

Hellickson (8-8) allowed an unearned run and seven hits, striking out six in eight innings and improving to 6-1 in his last seven home starts.

"I can't tell you the last time I went eight innings. The hits were nice as well," Hellickson said. "I will sit in the dugout as long as I need to. Let the guys score as many runs as they want."

Arizona had a club-record 10 hits in the big inning, and five extra-base hits, which tied the team record. The 11 runs allowed by the Phillies were the most they gave up since allowing 12 in an inning on May 31, 1975.

Buchanan became the first Phillies pitcher to allow 11 or more earned runs in an inning since Al Jurisch, who surrendered 14 against the New York Giants on June 28, 1947.

Buchanan (2-7) was done after 1 2-3 innings. He entered the game with an ERA of 7.23 and it went up to 9.00.

"Once the game started the ball was elevated, and that's when you get hurt," Buchanan said. "Try to keep pitching, try to get guys out, but the ball was elevated and I had to get the ball down."

The Diamondbacks, who won for the fourth time in five games, had four players with two hits in the same inning for the first time in franchise history: Yasmany Tomas, Hill, Chris Owings and Hellickson.

Peralta's fifth RBI came in the fifth inning, a run-scoring single, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a solo home run in the sixth.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Ryan Howard and a fielding error that allowed pinch-runner Andres Blanco to score from first base.

The Diamondbacks have outscored the Phillies 26-4 in the past two games after a 13-3 drubbing Monday night. This is the second time the Diamondbacks have ever scored 13 or more runs in consecutive games, the last time Sept. 26-27, 2001, when they scored 15 in one game and 13 in the next against Milwaukee.

"We came out and really swung the bats. Very impressive," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said. "A good game plan, and they executed and kept it going. Even the pitcher. It was good to see."

UTLEY PLAYS AMID TRADE SPECULATION

Longtime Phillies INF Chase Utley cleared waivers before Tuesday's game, making him trade-eligible. Several published reports named the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers among the teams interested in acquiring the 11-year veteran, who started at second base against Arizona.

Utley, who was 2 for 4, can block any trade because of his tenure in the majors and with the Phillies. He was activated from the 15-day DL last Friday after being out more than a month with right ankle inflammation. He is hitting .196 in 70 games this season.

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said he plans to rest Utley for a day game Wednesday, and after Tuesday's game said there will probably be a discussion about a move on Wednesday.

Home plate umpire Doug Eddings issued a warning to both dugouts after Phillies reliever Hector Neris hit the Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt with a pitch in the third inning. That was after Hellickson hit the Phillies' Maikel Franco in the left wrist and forced him out of the game in the first inning. "We'll see if it will feel better (Wednesday)," Franco said. "When the ball hit me I thought it was broken."

PHILLIES: Franco showed some swelling in his wrist but X-rays were negative and he was diagnosed with a contusion. "It wasn't broken, so that was good news," Mackanin said. "It looked bad. It sounded bad. I thought for sure it was broken but fortunately it wasn't." . OF Domonic Brown was scratched from the lineup due to illness, and was replaced in right field by Jeff Francoeur.

DIAMONDBACKS: Tomas left the game after the second inning for precautionary reasons with tightness in his left quadriceps, Hale said. Tomas was replaced in right field by Ender Inciarte and Hale said he's not certain if Tomas will be able to play on Wednesday. ... C Welington Castillo, who is hitting.366 with eight home runs and 14 RBIs in his last 12 games, was not in Tuesday's lineup. He took a bat to his helmet on a backswing while catching in the sixth inning Monday but stayed in the game a little while longer and said he was fine afterward. Hale planned to give Castillo a day off on Tuesday or Wednesday anyway, he said.

PHILLIES: RHP Aaron Nola, 22, faces the Diamondbacks for the first time in his career. Nola, called up in July from Triple-A, has not lost since his first start on July 21. He's 2-1 with a 3.65 ERA in four starts.

DIAMONDBACKS: RHP Chase Anderson makes his second start since being reinstated from the 15-day DL on Aug. 7. Anderson (5-4, 4.10 ERA) got a no-decision in May at Philadelphia despite giving up a run and three hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Summary: David Peralta hit a grand slam in an 11-run second inning and tied a career high with five RBIs, leading the Diamondbacks to a 13-1 victory over the Phillies.


up on his offer ... allowing her to have sex with black guys.

has sent V. a letter ... offering her a starring role in a sex tape with, as he put it, "the most well-endowed black men in the porn industry" -- which as you know is really saying something.

But Hirsch understands one thing for sure -- 15 minutes of fame. He's given V. 24 hours to make her decision.

We're sure she gets the drill.

Summary: V. Stiviano can now loosely take Donald Sterling up on his offer ... allowing her to have sex with black guys.  Vivid Entertainment honcho Steve…


Actress Blake Lively is feeling the heat from social media users after she posted a front-and-back Instagram photo of herself with the caption "L.A. face with an Oakland booty."

The line — a lyric in Sir Mix-a- Lot's seminal hit "Baby Got Back" — offended a slew of followers, with many accusing the Caucasian starlet of turning black women's bodies into a joke.

"Another day, another rich white woman using WOC's bodies as a punchline and commodity," Twitter user Kat Bee wrote. "As if Blake Lively wasn't the worst already."

Another user argued Lively's remark reeked of pretentiousness.

"I want to follow Blake Lively just to unfollow after this LA/Oakland business. So much privilege even GOOP feels uncomfortable," a fan named Melinda wrote referencing Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website.

Another day, another rich white woman using WOC's bodies as a punchline and commodity. As if Blake Lively wasn't the worst already.

And an account dedicated to preaching about privilege opined Lively's post was insensitive to the black community in Northern California.

"#WhitePrivilege means bragging about your "Oakland Booty" with no empathy for Black Oaklander's lives, @BlakeLively," the account @PrivilegeMeans wrote.

Lively, for her part, has not responded to the scrutiny as of yet. Her rep did not immediately respond to the Daily News' request for comment.

I want to follow Blake Lively just to unfollow after this LA/Oakland business. So much privilege even GOOP feels uncomfortable.

A wave of Lively's supporters, however, had the 28-year-old expectant mother's back.

"Not racist at all!" Instagram commenter Dre Henry wrote beneath the controversial photo. "I love it & you look amazing!"

Another named Alexis Kennedy chimed in to say: "Don't let anyone bring you down. They are lyrics to a song. SOMEONE always feels the need to be offended by something."

Sir Mix-a-Lot, whose real name is Anthony Ray, has spoken about the significance of his campy hit in the past. He told the Huffington Post in 2014 that he wrote the iconic booty-loving anthem ("I like big butts and I cannot lie") as a way to celebrate African American women.

"The black, female body was not accepted as the norm anywhere," he said on a podcast for the website. "For years, all you saw on television was overweight black maids or black women who would assimilate to white culture, as far as the look is concerned."

"I wanted to do something that was tongue-in-cheek but, at the same time, making a real point," he added.

Summary: Baby got backlash.


A growing number of influential business and government leaders now believe that it will be possible to expand the global economy while meeting our climate goals. But the real challenge is exactly how to do that? Decision makers, when grappling with climate change, often face mountains of detailed and sometimes contradictory information about how their organizations can become more sustainable. What’s needed, says Shell Chairman Chad Holliday, “is a trusted source. The data is out there—someone needs to collect it and make sure it’s in a usable form and then distribute it. So if you’re the President of Brazil and you want to make decision about biofuels, you’d have good information to make your decisions.”

Enter the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), an advisory group with a star-studded roster of former government officials, heads of green NGOs and Fortune Global 500 executives. Besides Shell, corporate members include Norway’s Statoil, Germany’s RWE utility, Schneider Electric, Dow Chemical DOW , GE GE , and mining giant BHP Billiton BHP . Mexico’s former Mexican president Felipe Calderon is on the board as well as Hank Paulson, the form U.S. Treasury secretary and British economist, Nicholas Stern. Two prominent green NGOs have joined: The European Climate Foundation and the World Resources Institute.

The ETC’s goal is to create a roadmap for a more sustainable economy over the next 15 years. This means finding ways to provide the energy needed to support a growing global population and greater economic prosperity, without damaging our environment beyond repair. Over the first year of its operation the ETC plans to focus on topics such as how to scale zero-carbon energy sources and what will it take for wind, solar, nuclear and other clean sources to capture 50% of the energy sector by 2050. It will also explore how to double the electrification of the building, transport and industrial sectors over the next 30 years, while keeping fossil fuels as part of the solution. Examples include using natural gas as a bridge fuel or deploying carbon capture technologies

This last topic is bound to raise eyebrows in the environmental community. What kind of credibility do oil companies and heavy users of fossil fuels such as Dow Chemical have when it comes to reducing our dependence on them? After all, the energy giants own trillions of dollars of oil and gas reserves that will need to stay in the ground if we are to meet our climate change goal. It’s like game wardens taking advice from poachers on where to look for illegal hunters.

Holliday acknowledges that there could be a perception problem, but argues that Shell is sincere about operating in a low carbon economy. He says: “Shell believes society needs to be net zero carbon as soon as we can. We are operating with an internal carbon price of $40 a ton and we’re in favor of carbon taxes. Our goal is to see society essentially be net zero carbon by the end of this century. That doesn’t mean there won’t be fossil fuel. But we will find ways to reduce our footprint such as carbon capture.”

Basically the commission presents an opportunity for all parties to have a serious dialogue on serious issues with serious players. The alternative is for different camps with diverse interest to erect barriers and stall while the earth warms. That’s not a scenario that’s likely to lead to a happy ending.

Click here for more coverage of Fortune’s Brainstorm E conference.

For more about climate change, watch this Fortune video:

Summary: Shell, Dow, and GE have helped create the Energy Transitions Commission to help move us to a low carbon economy.


Jonny Rees stars in the western "Forsaken" as "Tom Watson" alongside Demi Moore and Donald and Kiefer Sutherland in theaters next summer. On the big screen Jonny is best known for his portrayal of "Lieutenant Commander Groves" in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies as well as starring in J.J. Abrams "Star Trek," as "Chief Engineer Olsen," the original chief engineer of the Star ship Enterprise.In 20145 Jonny formed a production company '"Monkey Toes." The shingle's first project was the Sky television drama "Marked," produced, written and directed by Jonny and starring Kiefer Sutherland and Stephen Fry, to great critical acclaim. He is set to direct the Michael Douglas movie, "Franklin Square" in the new year.Jonny joined the cast of 'Hawaii Five-0' in season five to play Thomas Farrow in a major recurring arc, was a regular on the Fox drama "Touch" as "Trevor Wilcox," and played the villainous "Michael Amador" opposite Kiefer Sutherland in the 3rd season of the hit series "24." He also co-starred opposite Angelina Jolie in "Beowulf," with Brad Pitt in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," and alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in 'Titanic.'He is the voice of MZingo in the new "Lion King" series "The Lion Guard" as well as the voice of Valen Rudor in the Disney animated series "Star Wars Rebels." Jonny's television credits include: "Dexter," "The X-Files," "The Riches," "Bones," "Alcatraz," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "The Closer," "CSI," "Nip/Tuck," "Perception," "Knight Rider," and "Trust Me" to name a few.Voice-over work includes multiple characters on "Tom and Jerry," "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," "Batman: The Brave & the Bold," "Sophia the First," "Star Versus the Forces of Evil," "Tron: Uprising," "The Mummy," "What's New, Scooby-Doo?", "The Boondocks," "Ben 10," "Annoying Orange," "Phineas and Ferb," "Teen Titans," and the animated feature films "Garfield 2" as "Nigel," and "Cars 2," as "Sir Nigel Gearsley."Jonny has over 170 video-game credits to his name including the iconic series of: "Call of Duty," "God of War," "Diablo," "Uncharted," "Dragon Age," "Star Trek," "Cars," "Lord of the Rings," "X-Men," and "Medal of Honor," to name a few. He is also the voice of Rocket Raccoon for the "Guardians of the Galaxy" video games and animated show. His West End theatre credits include the role of "Rusty" in the original cast of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's New "Starlight Express," directed by Trevor Nunn; the alternate Chris in the original cast of "Miss. Saigon," directed by Nicholas Hytner and the role of "Fat Sam" in "Bugsy Malone," directed by Mickey Dolenz of Monkees fame.Jonny has performed for H.R.H Queen Elizabeth II at Saint Paul's Cathedral as well as 2 Royal Command Performances and his recordings can be heard extensively throughout Europe where he has achieved 3 Top 20 singles.Jonny's children are proudest of the fact that he is the voice of the Skylander's character "Jet-Vac." See full bio on IMDb »

Summary: Greg Ellis on TMZ, your go-to source for celebrity news, photos, & videos. Latest Story: NFL's Greg Ellis -- Back Off Jerry Jones ... He's Right About Greg Hardy (VIDEO)


The NBA 2017 All-Star Game will stay in Charlotte, North Carolina, as planned, commissioner Adam Silver said Friday.

That’s despite the state’s controversial “bathroom” law which is perceived to discriminate against transgender people. And despite growing pressure from celebrities from former NBA superstat Charles Barkley to Bruce Springsteen to titans of corporate America including Apple aapl , Salesforce.com crm , and Bank of America bac .

Barkley has said very publicly that he opposes discrimination of any kind, as have these businesses. Critics say the law discriminates against LGBT people, especially transgender people. The ACLU has sued the state over the law and the state’s attorney general has vowed not to defend it in court.

IBM to North Carolina: Cut It Out

“The law as it now stands in North Carolina is problematic for the league,”Silver acknowledged to reporters Friday afternoon, according to ABC News and other outlets. “There was no discussion of moving the All-Star game. The view in the room was we should be working toward change in North Carolina.”

LGBT Small Business Owners Just Scored a Big MLB Win

Given all the hoopla, the NBA subsequently issued a statement that sought to clarify/walk back Silver’s remarks and open up some wiggle room. Per the statement from league executive vice president Mike Bass:

At no time did Adam affirm that the league would not move the All-Star Game; rather he stressed repeatedly that the legislation is problematic, that we feel it is best to engage with the community to work towards a solution, that change is needed and we are hopeful that it will occur.

The law, called HB2, was passed by state legislators and Governor Pat McCrory signed it after an unusual 12-hour session a few weeks ago.

The legislation was meant to counter an ordinance passed earlier by Charlotte that would have enabled people to use whatever public facilities they felt comfortable using. The North Carolina law says people in public buildings must use the bathroom or locker room that matches the sex listed on their birth certificates.

Summary: Despite 'problematic' bathroom law.


A creepy voyeur busted for taking nude videos of ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews taped her through hack-sawed hotel door peepholes, authorities revealed at his arraignment Saturday.

The shocking new detail has the blond bombshell convinced Saturday that accused pervert Michael Barrett had help.

"Clearly, this man had the cooperation of various hotels who provided him with information about her reservations and accommodated his requests for an adjoining room," her lawyer Marshall Grossman told the Daily News.

"She continues to be concerned about her safety because no one has closed the door on the possibility that there may have been others involved."

Prosecutors say Barrett, 47, asked for rooms next to the foxy sideline reporter's rooms and shot eight videos of her as she undressed, according to the FBI.

He apparently cut the outer lens off her hotel door peephole - either while she was out or before she even got there - and aimed his cell phone camera through the modified slot.

His parents said they were shocked by the charges.

"That's not the Michael we know," his father, Frank Barrett, told The News Saturday. "He never talked about his extracurricular activities."

"We have no idea what to make of this," said his stunned mother, Lorene.

Michael Barrett - a divorced father of a 19-year-old daughter - also is accused of posting the videos online and trying to sell them to the celebrity Web site TMZ.com.

His lawyer said that Michael Barrett, a manager at Combined Insurance Company of America, had never been in trouble in the decade he'd known him.

"I don't think he's even had a traffic ticket," attorney Rick Beuke said.

"He's as regular a guy as you'll ever meet - a great friend. I must have calls from 30 people wanting to know what they could do to help."

But court documents paint a sinister picture. Michael Barrett allegedly used a cell phone camera to shoot the videos of Andrews, 31, at the Marriott Nashville at Vanderbilt University and a Ramada in Milwaukee while she was on assignment last year.

He's charged with interstate stalking with intent to harass, intimidate and cause emotional distress to the victim.

Grossman said the popular reporter isn't resting easy just yet.

"She's pleased with the arrest, but a bit apprehensive," Grossman said. She thinks employees at the hotels where Andrews stayed were feeding information to Michael Barrett and providing him with adjoining rooms, Grossman added.

The sportscaster - who is back on the sidelines at college football games after a break from her on-air duties - had never heard of or seen her alleged stalker before the feds showed her his picture, Grossman said.

Michael Barrett, who faces five years in federal prison if convicted, was arrested late Friday night at O'Hare Airport.

The FBI says it learned Michael Barrett's identity by linking him to e-mails he sent to TMZ.

He was denied bail Saturday morning in U.S. District Court in Chicago and ordered returned to Los Angeles, where the charges were filed. The judge set another hearing for tomorrow to determine if Michael Barrett will be freed on bond or kept in custody.

Andrews said she hoped the case would help other stalking victims.

"For my part, I will make every effort to strengthen the laws on a state and federal level to better protect victims of criminal stalking," she said.


hijacked a random dude's cell phone this weekend in New York -- then recorded a XMAS music video for the guy ... and we got the footage.

It all went down Friday night at Papa Juan Cigar Room in Harlem ... when Kelly showed up with his entourage -- and a bunch of the bar patrons approached him.

One of the guys began recording R.K. with his camera phone -- and that's when Kelly jacked the guy's cell ... and recorded his rendition of "Chestnuts Roasting."

The reaction from the bar crowd is pretty awesome -- check it out.

Summary: R. Kelly hijacked a random dude's cell phone this weekend in New York -- then recorded a XMAS music video for the guy ... and we got the footage.It all…


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WATCH: Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the justice department plans to release partial transcripts on Monday of phone calls between the shooter and hostage negotiators.

A week after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said a portion of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen's calls with hostage negotiators will be released Monday.

“We’ll be releasing a partial transcript of the calls between the killer and the hostage negotiators so people can, in fact, see the type of interaction that was had there,” Lynch told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week” Sunday.

The Attorney General says she’ll travel to Orlando on Tuesday to get an on-the-ground perspective on the investigation.

“I say partial because we're not going to be, for example, broadcasting his pledges of allegiance. We are trying not to re-victimize those who went through that horror,” she added. “We're trying to get as much information about this investigation out as possible, and we want people to provide information that they have to us.”

Lynch added she will travel to Orlando on Tuesday to get an on-the-ground perspective on the investigation.

“I’ll be meeting with the victims, the first responders, talking about the ways we are going to be supporting the victims and the first responders and also operationally," she said. "We will be releasing more information about this investigation as it comes to light."

Last Monday, FBI Director James Comey defended the agency’s earlier investigation of the Orlando shooter.

“So far, the honest answer is I don't think so. I don't see anything in reviewing our work that our agents should have done differently,” he said.

Lynch did not say whether something could have been done differently, but said “we’re looking into it.”

“This is an ongoing investigation. We are going back and scrubbing every contact we had with this killer,” she said. “We’re also asking people to come forward with the contacts they have had with this killer as well.”

Lynch said it is “certainly” the Justice Department’s goal to prevent more attacks like ones in Orlando and San Bernardino.

“As you can see from this investigation, we are going back and learning everything we can about this killer, about his contacts, people who may have known him or seen him, and we’re trying to build that profile so that we can move forward,” Lynch said.

The attorney general noted it is important “to keep our focus on the victims of this tragic crime."

“One of the things I’ll be doing in Orlando on Tuesday is meeting with victims talking about the support that we’ll be providing them as well, because this is a community. The LGBT and Latino community has come under fire before, but never in as horrific a manner as this,” she said.

Mateen was fatally shot by police after he killed 49 people at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando last weekend.

Summary: Lynch said she'll travel to Orlando Tuesday.


MIAMI, Sept. 13 — An Interstate highway was sealed off, three men of Middle Eastern descent were detained for more than 17 hours and their cars were searched for explosives, all under the eyes of a media horde today, after a woman said she had overheard the men talk of a terrorist attack over breakfast at a restaurant on Thursday.

But the three men proved to be medical students on their way to a hospital here, there were no explosives in their cars, and the authorities said their plotting may have been the work of smart alecks, not fanatics.

As law enforcement officials and viewers collectively exhaled late this afternoon, the day's deadly seriousness gave way to comic relief: the three men were released without being charged, but as they resumed their journey here news helicopters chased them, transmitting live images of their trip to Miami over CNN.

The incident left domestic security officials praising the woman, Eunice Stone of Cartersville, Ga., for reporting her suspicions and jotting down the men's license plate numbers and car descriptions after overhearing them at a Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Ga. They also praised one another for responding quickly, and overwhelmingly, to what had thankfully been only a false alarm.

At a time when citizens, police and news organizations seemed on a hair trigger over the Sept. 11 anniversary and Tuesday's decision by the Bush administration to increase the terror alert warning level to code orange, more than 100 officers from at least a score of agencies, and an equal number of news media personnel, had converged on a barren stretch of the highway through the Florida Everglades known as Alligator Alley.

"We had a very significant drill," said the Collier County sheriff, Don Hunter.

After their release, the three drove to a rest stop, where they said they were medical students heading here for training and denied making any comments or jokes about terrorism.

Meanwhile, relatives of one of the three men held a news conference at an Islamic center in Palos Hills, Ill., a Chicago suburb, to denounce Ms. Stone as a racist, and to decry law enforcement officials for having jumped to conclusions and overreacted.

The authorities did not release the three men's names today, but relatives and other officials identified two of the three as Ashmad Butt, of Orland Park, Ill., and Ayman A. Gheith, 27, of Worth, Ill. They and their companion apparently had completed at least two years of study at Ross University School of Medicine on the Caribbean island of Dominica. Law enforcement officials said one of the three men was a United States citizen by birth, another was a naturalized citizen and a third was a foreign national in the United States on a valid student visa.

The school's dean for clinical sciences, Dr. Nancy Perri, said tonight that she did not know which students were involved and was barred by privacy laws from divulging their names if she did.

The three students were on their way from Illinois in two cars to begin nine-week rotations on Monday at Larkin Community Hospital in South Miami, a 112-bed hospital where 6 to 12 Ross students receive training at a time, school officials said.

Mr. Gheith's sister, Hana Gheith, said she was also a student at Ross and had planned join him on Sunday.

"Unfortunately, they stopped in a restaurant in Georgia," Ms. Gheith said.

At the restaurant, a Shoney's off Interstate 75, the three were seated next to Ms. Stone and her son, who sat down to breakfast sometime around 11 a.m. on Thursday. Ms. Stone said she became alarmed at what she overheard from the next booth. She recounted in at least two broadcast interviews that she heard the three men "laughing about 9/11."

"At first, you know, I just went ahead with my breakfast," she said. "But they were laughing. And I have very good hearing." Recounting the snippets of conversation she picked up, Ms. Stone said she heard one of the men say, "If they mourn Sept. 11, what will they think about Sept. 13?"

A moment later, she said, one of the men asked, "Do you think that will bring it down?"

"Well, if that doesn't bring it down, I have contacts to bring it down," Ms. Stone said another man replied.

"To me, that meant they were planning to blow up something," Ms. Stone told a radio interviewer.

Ms. Stone, who said she was surprised to hear the three speaking in perfect American accents, said that when they left, she grabbed a crayon, followed them out and wrote down their license plate numbers and descriptions of their cars.

She then called the Georgia State Patrol to report what she had heard, and a nationwide alert was issued by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

By early this morning, the three men had reached the bend in I-75 east of Naples, Fla., where it heads east through the Everglades. But one of the two cars ran through a tollbooth, the authorities said, and a police officer chased the car. After eight miles, the officer pulled over the car, and the second vehicle stopped as well.

That stop, at nearly 2 a.m., triggered a tremendous law enforcement response, especially after bomb-sniffing dogs reacted as if both cars contained explosives. Exhaustive searches and even swabbing of surfaces in the cars, completed many hours later, showed no traces of explosive materials.

But officials insisted that the response had been so exaggerated at least in part because the three men did not cooperate with their interrogators, refusing to answer even basic questions and at times provided false information. The investigation was also extended because of confusion over the men's licenses, all of which proved in good order.

Shortly before the men were released, officials said that they were not being charged but that the matter would continue to be pursued as a possible hoax.

"We're looking into seeing what laws might be applicable," said John Bankhead, the director of public affairs for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He added, "These people are going to learn a lesson."

Back in Chicago, where Mr. Gheith and his two companions had packed their belongings and left on Monday or Tuesday, relatives angrily accused Ms. Stone, law enforcement officials and the news media of acting rashly out of prejudice against Muslims.

"Me and my brother and my whole family are just as American as everyone else," said Abdallah Gheith, 18. "My father passed away three years ago, and since then my brother has taken care of the family. We have no source of income right now. We're waiting on him to finish medical school."

Tonight, Ms. Stone could not be reached for comment. Outside her home in Cartersville, where a tattered American flag adorns the front garden, her husband, Billy Ray Stone, shooed a reporter away, saying: "I think my wife did the right thing. That's what they ask people to do. These guys say it was a joke? It was a sick joke. I praise her."

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Summary: Despite a scare over a terrorist attack, authorities say three men of Middle Eastern descent who were detained may have been smart alecks, not fanatics.


Partisan gridlock in Congress may lead to sharply higher milk prices in the new year. It's the latest sign that the deep divide between Democrats and Republicans is having a direct impact on consumers and the economy. Milk prices could at least double in January if there is no agreement on farm price supports. The current fight over the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program is a big part of this. The farm bill money includes food stamps as well as farm subsidies. Without a deal, consumers in January could pay $8 for gallon of milk. Members of the House and Senate are set to begin negotiations this week on the five-year farm bill. Both sides are far apart on the sensitive issue of how much money to cut from food stamps.

The government shutdown ended two weeks ago and the budget showdown is over for now, but the impact on the economy may be felt for months. Consumer sales for September to be released tomorrow were probably flat. Consumer confidence fell in the weeks before the shutdown and is still below the average for this year. A new survey of economists for USA Today says more than half are less optimistic about growth prospects than they were three months ago.

Sales at most small- and medium-sized business are still growing but "that growth rate has been cut in half over the past 12 months," says Brian Hamilton, chairman of Sageworks, the financial company that follows results from privately owned firms across the country. "You couple the decrease of growth with the fact that we're four years into an economic expansion and you start bumping up against the mean average time of expansion."

Despite worries about the consumer economy, things are still humming along on Wall Street. The stock market had another strong week with new record highs for the S&P 500. The Nasdaq is the highest it's been in 13 years. The Dow climbed 61 points on Friday. The quarterly earnings season is about half way through and most companies so far have beaten analysts' estimates. Apple and Facebook are among the most closely watched reports this week. Apple today may announce that for a third quarter in a row earnings were less than they were the year before. The Federal Reserve will report September's industrial production numbers today. And the National Association of Realtors will release the pending home sales index for September.

Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder is set to testify today in a trial about whether Detroit can fix its finances in bankruptcy court. The decision on the city's eligibility may be weeks away. A key issue is whether the city held "good-faith" talks with creditors before the filing. Unions and pension funds say no. Detroit owes billions of dollars and is the largest city to file for bankruptcy.

Richard Davies Business Correspondent ABC News Radio abcnews.com Twitter: daviesnow

Summary: They've got no deal, so Congress will wrangle over farm bill.


Hazel Technologies, a Skokie-based clean-tech startup working to reduce food waste, came away with the top prize at the Clean Energy Trust's annual business pitch competition Tuesday night.

Hazel, which makes a biodegradable container to help prevent food from spoiling before it's sold, won the Illinois Clean Energy Fund Award at the sixth annual Clean Energy Challenge in Chicago. The award is for a startup with a market-ready product; it comes with a $500,000 investment.

Aidan Mouat, CEO and co-founder of Hazel Technologies, said the company will use the money to help grow the businesses and develop its product past the prototype phase.

"We've already identified a larger space to move into in the Illinois Science and Technology Park (and can) purchase the necessary equipment to scale up our product fourfold," he said. "Within a couple months, we should be production-capable on the commercial scale."

Hazel recently secured a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and several of its co-founders leave Wednesday to pitch at the Rice (University) Business Plan Competition in Houston.

"There’s potential they’ll be riding a high into that," said Clean Energy Trust CEO Erik Birkerts. "We’re going to set out some milestones for them to hit. … It’s a company CET can apply some elbow grease to and help them succeed."

The award represented half of the $1 million handed out at the business competition. Fourteen clean-tech companies, all from the Midwest, completed a six-week accelerator program and pitched Tuesday, vying for investment awards.

Hazel was the only Chicago-area startup to secure any investments. Three companies divvied up the remaining seven prizes, all but one of which were in the form of convertible notes.

St. Louis-based Nexmatix swept up three awards for a total of $310,000. The startup creates technology that recycles compressed air, as well as products that detect air leaks to help improve efficiency.

Nexmatix won the $240,000 Wells Fargo Award, the $45,000 United Airlines and Boeing Sustainable Energy Award and the $25,000 ComEd Female CEO Award.

"The real captivating thing about that company is compressed air is a big inefficiency in buildings, and they have a solution that fixes it,” Birkerts said. “Boeing raised their hand and said we have a real problem with that in our warehouses.”

NovoMoto, a Madison, Wis.-based company developing a micro-solar grid for use in Congo, also took home three awards. It won the $20,000 Power Clean Cities Award, the $20,000 Hanley Family Foundation Award and the $50,000 Department of Energy Cleantech UP Student Award.

That Department of Energy award was the only one given out as a grant, Birkerts said.

Detroit- and New York City-based ride sharing app SPLT won the $100,000 Pritzker Foundation Award.

Clean Energy Trust has invested in 33 Midwest startups since 2011, including the four that received investments Tuesday. It secures funding mostly from private companies that view startup technology as part of research and development.

Summary: Hazel Technologies, a  Skokie -based clean-tech startup working to reduce food waste, came away with the top prize at the Clean Energy Trust's annual business pitch competition Tuesday night.


The last two weeks of definitive primaries have not only been a game-changer for the 2016 U.S. Presidential race, but they also have been a bellwether for some investors.

Last week, Robert Wander, a financial adviser with his own firm in New York, got his first email from a client for this election cycle worrying about the impact on the stock market. The client wants to move all his assets into cash before votes are cast in November.

"I don't know his political leanings. For most clients, it's not something I get into, unless they are also friends of mine. There's no advantage in that," Wander said.

Wander's advice was equally agnostic to party affiliation: Stay the course.

Yes, it's boring and basic, but this is the guidance most advisers give, trying to talk their clients down from making changes to their portfolios based on emotions.

We "want our clients to stay with what can be predicted, and that is that the economy should improve by the end of the year," said Paul Christopher, head global market strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Christopher's research predicts that the benchmark S&P 500 stock index will be up 9.6 percent over last year by the close of 2016. Still, he said that number could swing by 7 or 8 percentage points in either direction due to many factors, only one of which would be the election.

When clients ask Christopher what stocks they should buy if person X wins or Y wins, he declines to answer.

"It sounds like a dodge," he says, "but there are too many uncertainties for something that is not predictable yet."

Looking to history is not much of a balm here, because this election cycle is so different. Christopher points to his research on promises made on the campaign trail versus those kept in office. President Obama, for instance, only kept 32 percent of 506 promises made, such as the Affordable Care Act and ending the use of torture.

At Fidelity, one of the largest holders of retirement accounts, advisers caution clients to take a view at least five years out, even if they are planning to retire in a few months, which purposefully looks past any individual election cycle.

When Merrill Lynch is assessing the market, it focuses on company fundamentals rather than politics.

"The markets eventually price everything, and at the end of the day, it's about earnings and how much investors are willing to pay for those earnings," said Mary Ann Bartels, head of portfolio strategy for Merrill Lynch.

For those inclined to worry no matter what, Betsy Billard, a private wealth advisor for Ameriprise Financial, said there are other more pertinent topics than the Presidential race to mull over.

"Typically speaking, presidents don't move the market," Billard said. "The Fed controls monetary policy. A president doesn't move interest rates. The Fed moves them."

Yet, one adviser has found a way to harness his client's anxiety into a more diversified portfolio.

Last week, Wes Shannon, a certified financial planner at SJK Financial Planning in Hurst, Texas, met with a client who wanted to make her portfolio more conservative because she was concerned about the election.

Because the woman and her husband were in their late 50s and had one of the most aggressive portfolios in his practice, he jumped at the opportunity to get them more aligned with where he thought they should be.

"I didn't go into her rationale. I don't even know if she's Democrat or Republican. I don't ask. I was like, all right great, let's dial it back," Shannon said.

Summary: The last two weeks of primaries have been a game-changer for the 2016 U.S. Presidential race, and also a bellwether for investors.


Rock musician Ted Nugent posted a message about “who is really behind gun control” on Facebook that the Anti-Defamation League slammed as anti-Semitic.

In the post, Nugent shares a grid of photos of Jewish legislators and leaders who support gun control, labeling each photo with Israeli flags and descriptions like “Jew York City mayor Mikey Bloomberg” and, under a photo of the late New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, “Gave Russian Jew immigrants your tax money.”

Nugent apparently did not create the photo grid himself—the ADL says it has appeared elsewhere in the past—but he wrote a message accompanying it saying, “Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense & to KEEP & BEAR ARMS while many of them have tax paid hired ARMED security!”

ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt condemned the post in a statement and called on Nugent to take it down, arguing that “making the outrageous suggestion that Jews are behind gun control, is nothing short of conspiratorial anti-Semitism. Regardless of one’s views on gun control, this kind of scapegoating of an entire religious group is completely unacceptable and completely divorced from reality.”

Summary: The Anti-Defamation League called on him to remove it


Aisha Qaddafi, daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, encourages Libyan people gathered at the Bab Al Azizia compound in Tripoli, Libya, April 15, 2011.

Aisha el-Qaddafi, the 36-year-old lawyer daughter of embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi told the New York Times in an exclusive interview that she likes telling her three children bedtime stories about life after death, especially during the war.

"To make them ready," she said during the interview, "because in a time of war you never know when a rocket or a bomb might hit you, and that will be the end."

Qaddafi, who once served on Saddam Hussein's defense team, compared NATO's efforts in Libya to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, predicting a situation even worse for Libya's future.

Complete coverage: Anger in the Arab world

"The opposition in Iraq told the West that when you come to Iraq they will greet you with roses," Qaddafi told the New York Times. "Almost 10 years later they are receiving the Americans with bullets, and, believe me, the situation in Libya will be much worse."

The only daughter of Muammar Qaddafi insulted both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama, telling the New York Times that Obama "achieved nothing so far" and asking Clinton, "Why didn't you leave the White House when you found out about the cheating of your husband?"

According to the New York Times, Qaddafi repeatedly asked for talks, saying, "The world should come together at a round table...under the auspices of international organizations," while dismissing negotiations with the opposition, calling them "terrorists".

Qaddafi also laughed at the irony of the United Nations referring her to the International Criminal Court recently, when it once "begged" her to be a UN goodwill ambassador.

When asked about her father's mindset, Qaddafi told the New York Times, "He is as strong as the world knows him." She was sure that the people of Libya supported him. "He is quite sure that the Libyan people are loyal to him," said Qaddafi.

© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Summary: Muammar Qaddafi's only daughter grants rare interview to NYT, predicting the situation in Libya will become worse than Iraq


Sam Kass, President Obama’s former senior advisor for nutrition policy and former executive director of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, is a partner in Campbell Soup-backed venture capital fund Acre Venture Partners, Fortune has learned.

Both Kass and a spokesman for Acre confirmed Kass’s role but declined to comment further, saying that that no one from the fund is speaking publicly at this time. Kass has been a partner in the fund since its inception about six weeks ago. Kass is also a founder of Trove Worldwide, a strategy firm that tackles sustainability issues.

Campbell Soup CPB is the sole limited partner in the $125 million venture fund, which is independent of the packaged-food company. Jeff Dunn, the head of Campbell’s fresh division, is the company’s representative on Acre’s investment committee.

So far we do know one of Acre’s investments: Juicero, the $699 system for making cold-press juice at home, which has raised more than $100 million in financing. Juicero listed Acre, as well as Campbell, as investors in a press release last week.

Kass isn’t new to the investment world. Last year he backed meal delivery service Sprig. “Interestingly, and almost strangely, the food space has largely been left out of major innovations and technology on lots of levels from the field to the plate,” Kass told Fortune at the time. Kass also said then that he planned to do more investing as a way of improving how people eat. “I think the private sector is going to be a major force of change in the next five to 10 years,” he said.

Campbell’s involvement in the fund is the latest step in the company’s attempt to better align its portfolio with consumers’ changing tastes, which have shifted away from processed food toward fresh goods. In recent years Big Food companies have pursued the strategy of investing in and acquiring smaller food brands that have a “health halo,” in addition to trying to reformulate their own products to be free of ingredients consumers don’t want or understand. (For more on this topic, read “The War on Big Food.”)

Prior to backing Acre, Campbell had made a string of acquisitions: In 2012 the company paid $1.6 billion for juice and carrot company Bolthouse Farms, $249 million in 2013 for baby-food maker Plum Organics, and $231 billion for salsa maker Garden Fresh Gourmet in 2015.

“We believe that defining the future of real food requires new approaches, new business models, smart external development and an ecosystem of innovative partners,” said Campbell CEO Denise Morrison when she announced the company’s involvement in the fund at an industry conference in February.

Morrison said at the industry conference that she estimated that since 2010 about 400 startups have received more than $6 billion in funding from venture capital and Big Food companies.

Summary: The fund is backing Juicero, seller of a $700 cold-press juice maker.


(CBS) Doctors always talk about the importance of daily exercise to stay healthy and ward off disease, but when it comes to fitness, are you doing enough to work out your brain?

PICTURES: Alzheimer's disease: 7 things that raise your risk

A new study suggests you better. The study found people who who kept their brains active most of their lives by reading, writing, completing crossword puzzles, or playing challenging games were a lot less likely to develop brain plaques that are tied to Alzheimer's disease.

For the study, published in the Jan. 23 issue of the Archives of Neurology, researchers compared PET-brain scans of of 65 healthy older people who were an average of 76-years-old, with scans from 10 patients with Alzheimer's and 11 young people who were around 25 years old. The researchers also surveyed the older participants on their lifestyle practices, and how frequently they engaged in cognitively challenging activities since childhood. The researchers were looking for a link between people who "exercised" their minds more and the presence of Beta-amyloid protein, a major component of the amyloid plaque that's a marker of Alzheimer's.

What did they find? Adults who participated in more mind-stimulating activities, especially in their early and middle years, had the least protein Beta-amyloid protein uptake in their brains. The elderly participants with the most puzzles and books under their belt had brains comparable to those of the healthy controls who were fifty years younger.

"Some of the literature has hypothesized this finding, but this is the first study to report that lifetime cognitive activity is directly linked to amyloid deposition in the brain," study author Susan Landau, a research scientist at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, told HealthDay. "We think that cognitive activity is probably one of a variety of lifestyle practices - occupational, recreational and social activities - that may be important."

Did physical exercise play any role in the participants' brain health? The researchers found that people who exercised more might be more likely to stimulate their minds over the years, but physical activity had no impact on plaque protein uptake in the brain.

The bottom line? Stimulating your mind starting at an early age might do more to help your brain in the long run rather than picking up chess once you retire. People in the study who recently took up crossword puzzles did not see added benefit.

"What our data suggests is that a whole lifetime of engaging in these activities has a bigger effect than being cognitively active just in older age," Landau told MyHealthNewsDaily.

An estimated 5.4 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the CDC's latest report, taking more than 83,000 lives this past year.

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Summary: People who engaged in more mentally stimulating activities throughout life had less protein buildup on brain scans, study found


He wanted Tom Brady and Tim Tebow — and got Scott Baio.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump named the 1970s-80s sitcom star a speaker at this week's Republican National Convention after failing to land a score of other high-profile celebrities.

Baio, best known for his work on "Happy Days" and "Charles in Charge," confirmed he'll take the podium at the convention in a Saturday interview with Fox News.

"I actually was at a fundraiser for Mr. Trump the other night with my wife, and he invited me to speak at the convention, which was completely unexpected and out of left field," the actor told Jeanine Pirro on her show, "Justice with Judge Jeanine."

Mike Pence widely ridiculed after dining at Chili’s

Baio, 55, joins a list of speakers at the four-day conference that also includes four of Trump's kids, film star and former underwear model Antonio Sabàto Jr., and Vegas casino mogul Phil Ruffin.

But many of the big-name stars linked to the event do not plan to attend.

Brady's name was floated weeks ago as a potential speaker, but he reportedly won't be present. Nor will Tebow, tennis great Serena Williams, Hall of Fame college basketball coach Bobby Knight or either of the GOP's living presidents, George Bush and George W. Bush.

That didn't stop Trump, however, from gushing over those attending the conference, which runs from July 18-21 in Cleveland.

Harry Siegel: The confidence-man candidate

"We are totally over-booked. We have great speakers, we have winners, we have people that aren't only political people," he told Fox News. "We have a lot of people that are just champions and winners."

Tom Brady (l.) and Tim Tebow are among the stars who won't speak or attend the event.

Baio has been among Trump's more vocal celebrity supporters. Shortly after making his announcement Saturday, Baio opined that the polarizing candidate's critics would warm up to them if they ever got to know him.

"I wish that people could meet Donald Trump, I really do," Baio told Pirro. "He's such a regular guy, and every time I've been with him and talked to him… he's just a guy who is very successful, and that's one of the things that I hope will connect with millions of Americans."


Before you go, we thought you'd like these...

The Queen's Guards have once again had it with tourists constantly taunting them. While one Queen's Guard pulled a rifle on a tourist just a few weeks ago, another Queen's Guard has punched an annoying tourist. ...Or so it seems. It turns out the insanely viral video is actually a controversial prank by Troll Station, who have created a small compilation of prank videos about tourists harassing the Queen's Guard in the past few weeks. Everyone in the videos are actors, including the supposed Queen's Guard. The videos include the Queen's Guard punching a man in the face, being hit by a man, and throwing tourists to the ground. Some consider the video disrespectful and tasteless, as the woman at the end of the Youtube video suggests. These soldiers protect the royal family and should be honored and respected. These videos thus make an ignorant mockery of the Queen's Guard. Others view it as a commentary on annoying tourists who just won't leave the poor soldiers alone. While it's unlikely that a Queen's Guard would ever actually punch a tourist, we have to believe they're tempted quite often. Regardless of the lacking genuineness of this video, it has racked up over 3 million views and serves as a message that harassing the Queen's Guard is not cool. Leave them alone or you might just be the recipient of a mean right hook one day (but probably not). Watch this video to see the REAL Queen's Guard pulling a rifle on a tourist:

Summary: Don't mess with the Queen's Guard.


07/20/2016 AT 05:20 PM EDT

She married the most eligible bachelor in the world and became famous overnight, but seventeen years after her death, friends of

tell PEOPLE that she was much more than the ethereal beauty who captured John's heart.

"She was a whole other complex woman,â says close friend Sasha Chermayeff. "The newness of the celebrity was much more shocking for her."

, a new SPIKE TV documentary airing Aug. 1 (and now opening in select theaters), as well as in this week's PEOPLE, several of John's friends say he was focused on protecting her from the shock of sudden fame and constant attention that met her after their 1996 wedding.

"John loved Carolyn, he was enchanted with her – body and soul – from the first minute he met her," says his friend Brian Steel, who was a fellow assistant DA in the New York County District Attorney's office. "But I think the fact that she had trouble coping with his fame definitely caused stress later on."

in 1999, in addition to looking for a buyer for the magazine

, JFK Jr. was struggling with questions about their marriage, often prompted by the intense scrutiny.

"He struggled with her inability to cope with the public nature of their life," says Steel. "She needed to work through that, but he never wavered in his commitment to helping her. He definitely wanted children at some point in time. He loved kids. He loved his nieces and nephew. And they were very much life partners."

While the relationship could be stormy, friends insist their bond was strong.

"They had an intense passion," says Chris Oberbeck, John's college housemate who remained a close friend. "That passion was manifested in loving each other and really having a great time together and it was also manifested in unbelievable fights. It was not a

type of relationship. To a certain degree, that's intriguing and interesting, but it's also difficult."

Still, friends say, their attraction was electric.

"You have these forces – gravity and electricity, magnetic attractions and then you've got nuclear binding forces," says Oberbeck. "They had this attraction that was so powerful."

JFK Jr. on the cover of PEOPLE

While the speculation was intense, friends say they were trying their best to make it work.

"Emotionally there was some distance that hadn't been there before, but that happens with couples," says Chermayeff. "They were going through the first five or so years when you learn what you're getting yourself into, when you're no longer blinded by love and then it gets intense. It was difficult but they were deeply connected. What was going to happen, we'll never know."

According to John's former assistant RoseMarie Terenzio, now a PR strategist who wrote about their relationship in her memoir

, "John and Carolyn were very realistic about their marriage. They did not have the fairy tale expectation that was projected on them.

"They were aware that there would be tough times," she added. "And I think they were committed to working through them."

Summary: Friends reveal Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was "complex," but she and John F. Kennedy Jr. were "deeply connected"


“She’s a little obsessive,” said Ms. Enzenbach. “But all collectors are.”

Ms. Mensah-Schramm agreed that documentation is important. However, she says her first priority is to remove symbols of hate that can hurt vulnerable groups. “It follows me in my sleep,” she said. “I don’t think I could stop if I wanted to. If I see something, I have to take it down.”

Ms. Mensah-Schramm was born in Stuttgart in 1945. What she, like others of her generation, learned about the Nazi era was fragmentary. “At home, the principle was, ‘It’s better not to talk about it,’” she said. As a young woman, she grew apart from her family, and found southwestern Germany too conservative for her taste. After moving to Berlin in 1969, she taught children with severe disabilities and became involved in the antinuclear movement.

Ms. Mensah-Schramm said she reached a turning point in the early 1980s when she visited a concentration camp for the first time. When she came home, she vomited, but also resolved to make the same journey every year to commemorate the dead. She said that a few years later, in 1986, she was shocked to see a sticker at her bus stop that demanded the release of Rudolf Hess, the imprisoned Nazi war criminal. The sticker bothered her all day at work. When she came home that evening, it was still there. “No one had taken it off,” she said.

She used her keychain to scrape it away, and felt better. A few days later, she said she spent an entire night walking the streets of her comfortable Berlin neighborhood and was astounded by the scores of inconspicuous far-right messages she found. “After a few weeks, the stickers stopped coming back,” she said. “It shows the neo-Nazis that someone doesn’t agree with them.”

Ms. Mensah-Schramm’s activities do carry some risks. Over her 30 years of scraping, dissolving and painting over far-right slogans, she estimates she has been assaulted three or four times. But, she said, she has also been hugged by strangers and thanked.

Then there are the potential legal ramifications: “She’s walking a thin line, if you look at German laws regarding graffiti and property damage,” said Martin Gegenheimer, coordinator of a graffiti archive in Berlin. “She’s gotten in trouble a few times. But her position is that, morally, it’s more important to get rid of this stuff.”

As tensions rise over the refugee issue in Germany, others are following her lead. Last year, Ibo Omari, owner of a Berlin shop that sells graffiti paint and related items, founded an organization that has sponsored artists to convert some 20 swastikas into street art: Rubik’s Cubes, mosquitoes and owls. “She’s the grandmother of this project,” Mr. Omari, whose video of rehabilitated symbols has gone viral, said of Ms. Mensah-Schramm. “She’s way more experienced than we are. She’s not digitally connected like we are, but she should have been supported years ago.”

Still, thanks to workshops and classroom visits, Ms. Mensah-Schramm does reach young people. “She is taking responsibility for society,” said Julia Reidl, an English and geography teacher at the Goethe-Gymnasium in Karlsruhe. Ms. Reidl’s sixth, seventh and 11th graders have redrawn copies of real-life graffiti that says “I love Hitler” to offer more positive messages, like “I love cats,” in workshops with Ms. Mensah-Schramm. “They totally get into it,” said Ms. Reidl. “Some of the little ones said, ‘We want to go out and help you!’ It’s so important, especially nowadays, with all this hatred against refugees and Islam.”

Following a tumble down a flight of stairs at a train station, Ms. Mensah-Schramm said she has modified her activities. “I have to acknowledge my boundaries,” she said. She can only carry so much paint, no longer climbs structures if she is alone, and sometimes takes a day off.

Still, on this day she has enough energy for one more stop. In neighboring Bernau, she spotted graffiti on a telephone booth urging people to slug in the mouth those who oppose the radical right wingers.

As Ms. Mensah-Schramm scrubbed, a resident, Ingrid Bramke, 80, expressed her approval from her spot on a nearby bench. “It’s definitely good she is doing this,” she said. “We really don’t want any Nazi slogans here.”

A version of this article appears in print on May 28, 2016, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: How One Berliner Battles Hate: With Conscience and a Sharp Scraper. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: For 30 years, Irmela Mensah-Schramm has crisscrossed her city, and her country, in an effort to rid Germany of neo-Nazi posters, stickers and graffiti.


Inmate firefighters walk along a highway near Yosemite National Park in California after a burnout operation to battle a devastating fire this August.Jae C. Hong/AP

Daron Ehling fought 19 wildfires this year â long hours of cutting firebreaks and felling trees in the sweltering heat of eastern Washington. In 2012 he went out on 16 fires. And the year before that?

"The only thing I knew about a chain saw was how much they'd give me at a pawn shop," he says.

Ehling is serving time at the Airway Heights Corrections Center, a prison near Spokane; he ended up there after getting caught breaking into houses in order to support a heroin addiction. He says the adrenaline rush of heading out to a fire reminds him a little of breaking into houses, but it's far more fulfilling: "I can still get that same kind of excitement doing something good, knowing there's a purpose behind it."

Ehling works on a 10-person crew, one of four run out of Airway Heights in collaboration with the state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR). They work alongside the DNR's civilian engine crews on both initial attack (getting control of wildfires) and mop-up (the long and laborious process of making sure they're entirely out). Andrew Stenbeck, district manager for the DNR, says the inmates involvement is essential to keeping on top of all the fires.

That's become a common story in Western states. Inmates fight fires in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana; in Oregon more than 800 inmates worked on fires this summer. "We couldnât afford to have paid firefighters doing the same work the inmate firefighters are doing," says Julie Hutchinson, a battalion chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as Cal Fire. At least two crews of inmates are dispatched to every fire in California â nearly 6,000 this year. Six hundred inmates battled this fall's Rim fire in the Yosemite and Stanislaus national forests.

Climate change is fueling longer, more-intense fire seasons, according to the National Climate Assessment; climate models indicate there will be more devastating fires to come. That means the cost of fighting fires is spiraling upward even as budgets are cut. (The federal spending cuts known as the sequester, for example, eliminated some 500 wildland firefighting jobs and money for 50 engines this year). The upshot is that the West may find itself depending even more on inmate labor to keep fires in check. It's a reality that raises complicated questions. With so much reliance on prisoners, how do you walk the line between rehabilitation and exploitation?

The fire was right there! I was digging a line, it was burning my face, burning my feet, and I'm like, 'I donât know if I want to do this right now.'

Wilderness firefighting is tough work. The inmates often labor in 90-degree heat; they carry packs that often weigh 50 pounds or more and face not only fire but also rattlesnakes, bees, rough terrain and falling debris. Andrew Smith, an exuberant man who is serving time for selling drugs, laughs when he remembers going out on his first fire three years ago, saying, "The fire was right there! I was digging a line, it was burning my face, burning my feet, and I'm like, 'I don't know if I want to do this right now.'" He once encountered a bear and, another time, narrowly avoided being hit by a falling rock. "It's a dangerous job. You really have to keep your head on a swivel."

In 2012 a 22-year-old Airway Heights crew member was killed only a few months before his release date, electrocuted while felling trees near a power line. Fatalities are rare when inmates are put on the front line of firefighting, but programs in other states have, likewise, had instances of injury and death. Stenbeck says he worries frequently about the safety of inmate and civilian crews alike. "Every March, I start to get knots in my stomach," he says.

For their work, Airway Heights crew members earn 62 cents an hour. For overtime hours, it's 92 cents. That's because, in general, prison inmates are not covered by labor protections like the guaranteed minimum wage, according to Noah Zatz, a professor of labor law at Yale University. But Zatz says the legal arguments for that tend to be inconsistent. No court, he says, has ruled that inmates lose their labor rights because they broke the law.

Some courts have decreed that prison labor exists apart from the open market â even though some products and services made or performed by inmates end up in the regular market, displacing civilian workers and companies. (The prison labor market has evolved far beyond license plates, serving a wide variety of for-profit companies. Inmates in Colorado, for example, raise tilapia for Whole Foods and run a water-buffalo dairy that supplies the world's largest mozzarella maker. Elsewhere, inmates make solar panels and parts for Patriot missiles.)

The most common defense of such programs, says Zatz, is that prison labor isn't traditional employment â and therefore doesn't trigger labor protections â if its main goal is rehabilitation of prisoners, not economic gain.

This can be a tricky argument, particularly when states openly acknowledge that they couldnât afford to fight fires as effectively if they were using regular workers. (In California, says Hutchinson, "that's a burden the budget would not even be able to consider.")

"The basic question" that the U.S. has yet to seriously address, says Zatz, "is whether or not the vulnerability of prisoners, because they are completely within the power of the state while incarcerated, is an appropriate basis for the state to get access to extremely low-cost, extremely controllable labor sources."

Some prison-reform advocates point to another potential issue: What if states' dependence on inmate labor leads to harsher sentencing laws or otherwise affects how offenders are treated?

In California, overcrowded prisons are undergoing a court-ordered realignment, with many nonviolent offenders' â prime candidates for fire crews â being released or moved to county jails. The state initially feared it would have to cut inmate fire crews but now says they will remain close to fully staffed â in part because of agreements with county jails and in part because the state changed the way it classifies prisoners' security levels. According to Hutchinson, the program is too crucial to lose. "If you see a fire in California, youâre going to see people in orange," she says.

You feel like you're a normal person. You donât have this huge barrier that's put between you â 'I broke the law, so Iâm no longer part of society.'

an Airway Heights inmate, on fighting fires

When there's a big fire on the news, James Jackson, another Airway Heights crew member, isn't thinking about the legal details of inmate labor. He's finding the location on a map and hoping his crew gets called up to fight it.

Jackson is serving time for a second-degree murder conviction. He was an accomplice in a stabbing when he was 16. He's been in prison for 15 years and on the fire crew for one. The chance to get out of the gates means a lot to him. He describes the time two eagles flew overhead while his crew was doing some pre-emptive thinning. (In between fires, they cut trees to reduce fuel load in densely grown forests.). He says, "It's a lot better than looking at a barbed-wire fence."

Life in prison is monotonous, says Alairic Sondergaard, who was convicted of growing marijuana and illegally possessing handguns and is wrapping up his first season on the Airway Heights crew. "Day in, day out, it's pretty much the same routine," he says. "We hear the bell and we get food. We go to the yard."

But every fire is its own challenge. Sondergaard and Jackson proudly remember containing a fire that closed a state highway in August. Known as the Homestead fire, it burned a steep, rocky hillside. "It was pretty much vertical from top to bottom," says Sondergaard. The crew had to dig a line â use chain saws, Pulaski axes and shovels to cut an 18-inch swath clear down to the mineral soil so the fire canât progress â all the way up. As they worked, air crews dropped water from nearby Long Lake on the fire. The hand crews had to dodge the water dumps, then spread the wet mud that resulted.

Sometimes the crews do what's known as direct attack â digging a line right next to an active fire. It can be so hot, says Jackson, that you can't dig for long. "You take a couple of scoops, and you have to back up, just 'cause the heat," he says. "Take a couple more scoops, back up."

With the Homestead fire, the flames were so big, the crew worried about getting outflanked before they could complete the line. They dug a little farther away, but when they were done, there was still a lot of green, burnable material, which is a risk. "You don't want anything sparking up, hopping over the line," says Jackson. So he and Sondergaard used drip torches to create back burn, systematically clearing out the rest of the fuel while the fire raged next to them.

Different inmate firefighting programs have different rules about who can be involved. At Airway Heights, inmates must pass a physical-fitness test and a series of classroom tests that they take over the course of three weeks of training. They must be in minimum-security custody, which means, among other things, that they're within sight of their release date â a deterrent to escape attempts, which can add years to a sentence. Anyone incarcerated for a sexual or violent crime has to get special approval, which will, in part, be contingent on having no escape attempts in the preceding 10 years or any violent infractions for one year. Patrick McCarren, who oversees off-site work crews from Airway Heights, says the big worries are escape, endangering the public and inmates' taking in contraband from the outside. When a crew is spread out at a fire site, it can be difficult for the supervisor to maintain visual contact with each offender. He is required, however, to record their locations at least once an hour.

Inmate fire crews regularly work alongside civilian crews. "They know that we're from prison, and we know we're from prison, so there's â I don't want to say tension, but hesitation, maybe," says Jackson. "But once you work along somebody for eight hours straight, I think that's kind of forgotten."

Hutchinson remembers her first time working alongside inmates as an 18-year-old firefighter in California. "Being one of the few women and realizing they had chain saws and axes and all these things, I had that immediate thought, 'Oh my gosh, this can't be good.'" But she sees things differently now. "There are fires I'd still be on today if we didn't have those inmate fire crews to cut that line," she says.

For Sondergaard, these interactions are sometimes the best part of the job. "You feel like you're a normal person," he says. "You don't have this huge barrier that's put between you â 'I broke the law, so I'm no longer part of society.'"

I busted my butt for 62 cents an hour fighting fires. I can definitely go home and do whatever job.

an inmate who spent three seasons fighting fires

Experiences like that support the view that fighting fires helps rehabilitate prisoners.

Daron Ehling has been locked up before â he was in eight facilities in Ohio before arriving at AirwayÂ â and has given a lot of thought to what keeps people in or out of prison. The DNR program, he says, is a form of rehabilitation, offering a gradual path back to society that he hasn't seen in other prison programs.

"What do you do when you just get put out on the street?" he says. "Well, you do what you're comfortable with. You do what you have always known â¦ You get out. You don't have a chance. You're already destined to come back." To Ehling, who expects to be released within the next two years, not offering a program like this would be the unfair thing.

At Airway Heights, many of the inmates in the program hope their new skills will help them land a job after they're released. In California, where agencies say they've seen lower recidivism rates for inmates who have worked on fire crews, some Cal Fire battalion chiefs even got their start as inmate firefighters, usually as juvenile offenders.

When Jackson passes forests on his way to and from fires, he keeps a lookout through the bus window for dense sections and thinks about the best way to fireproof them. Despite the danger, Smith says he hopes to continue fighting fires when he gets out. "I never found anything I liked doing. And then it's crazy â I come in here and â¦ find something challenging, that I like doing." Inmates say firefighting has taught them teamwork, responsibility and a strong work ethic.

William Thompson, convicted of dealing drugs, just finished his third season fighting fires. He served on a saw team, an elite position. In February his sentence will be up, and he will be going home to 3-year-old twins he barely knows.

Three years on the same job, he says, was a personal victory that gives him hope for the future. "That's probably the longest that I've been employed for a single job in my whole entire life," he says. "This here proved to me that I can stay employed, stay productive." He plans to take his twins to camping spots and rope swings he has discovered during his time on the crew and to study automotive mechanics at a community college.

"I busted my butt for 62 cents an hour fighting fires," he says. "I can definitely go home and do whatever job."

Summary: For convicts, battling wildfires can provide a break from monotony â and a cheap alternative to paid firefighters


3. Under "Subscriptions" tap "Your Membership / Apple Music Membership". This will take you through to your Apple Music subscription page, where you will be able to see how long you have until your subscription runs out.

If you want to unsubscribe from the service, you need to turn the "Automatic Renewal" option to "OFF". You will be able to continue using Apple Music until your subscription expires, and then it will cut off.

Once your subscription expires, your Apple Music Membership page will look like this until you decide to resubscribe using one of the available renewal options:

In a study last month by researcher Musicwatch, 11 per cent of people who owned an Apple mobile device in the US said they were using Apple Music.

While 64 per cent of those Apple Music users said that they were extremely or very likely to pay for it after their free trial ended, almost as many (61 per cent) reported that they had already turned off the auto-renewal option.

The service has faced criticism from some users over its complicated interface and the way it handles music files. Popular Apple commentator Jim Dalrymple described it as a "nightmare", recounting how songs in his music library disappeared as he tried to integrate his collection with Apple Music.

Apple Music has also faced controversy over its initial decision not to pay artists during the three-month free trial – a policy that prompted pop princess Taylor Swift to pull her hit album 1989 from the service.

Apple eventually caved and agreed to pay artists for every stream during the trial period. Apple pays music rights owners around 70 per cent of its revenue – which is roughly the industry standard.

Summary: Apple's free Apple Music trial has come to an end for many users. Here's how   to unsubscribe from the service


Proponents of overhauling the U.S. immigration system increasingly point to the fact that about 40% of the 11 million undocumented workers in the country aren't low-wage workers who sneaked over the southern border illegally, but rather foreigners who arrived legally and simply never left.

Those working to create a path to citizenship for people here illegally often make the distinction to highlight the diverse immigration issues the U.S. faces. Little is known about the demographics of the so-called overstayer...

Summary: Proponents of overhauling the U.S. immigration system point to the fact that about 40% of the 11 million undocumented workers in the country aren't low-wage workers who sneaked over the border, but foreigners who arrived legally and simply never left.


T he LVMH tower at 19 East 57th St. is not just another pretty face, although beauty is what you would expect from the French consortium that is the leading purveyor of luxury goods through such fashion-famous firms as Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennesy, Christian Dior, Dom Perignon, Givenchy, Guerlain, and at least another dozen legendary names familiar to the fashionistas of the world. Beauty is what you get, however, when the...

Summary: The LVMH tower  is the best new building in New York -- not by small degrees but by the equivalent of a jump-shot to the moon.  By Ada Louise Huxtable


A federal appeals panel on Friday rejected an effort by several police unions to intervene in two longstanding lawsuits challenging the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactics.

The unions had sought to enter the cases last year after a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the department’s practice of stopping, questioning and often frisking people on the street was unconstitutional, a ruling that the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg appealed.

After the election of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had vowed to settle the suits, city lawyers agreed to a deal that essentially put in place a process of reform that had been ordered by the judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, which included the appointment of a monitor.

The unions, in seeking to intervene, had argued that Judge Scheindlin’s findings harmed officers’ reputations and threatened the unions’ collective bargaining rights. Judge Scheindlin was later ordered removed from the case by the same appeals panel that ruled on Friday, after it found that some of her actions raised questions about the appearance of impartiality. (The panel ultimately found no “misconduct, actual bias or actual partiality” on her part.) In July, a different district court judge, Analisa Torres, rejected the unions’ motion to intervene.

It was Judge Torres’s decision that was upheld on Friday by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in Manhattan.

“Granting the unions’ motions in the wake of the November 2013 mayoral election,” the panel said, “would essentially condone a collateral attack on the democratic process and could erode the legitimacy of decisions made by the democratically elected representatives of the people.”

“Allowing intervention at this late juncture,” the panel added, “would prejudice plaintiffs and the city by postponing resolution of this now-settled dispute and frustrating both parties’ desire to promptly engage in agreed-upon reforms.”

The panel, comprising Judges John M. Walker Jr., José A. Cabranes and Barrington D. Parker Jr., sent the case back to Judge Torres, who is to oversee the process of reforms. They will be carried out with the aid of the monitor, Peter L. Zimroth, a former city corporation counsel.

The city’s current corporation counsel, Zachary W. Carter, said in a statement that the panel’s ruling “clears the way for implementation of the remedial measures to which the city agreed.”

Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which had sought to intervene, said his group “will continue to monitor actions taken in this process moving forward to ensure that they do not violate” officers’ rights.

The lawyers and legal groups that filed the lawsuits, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the New York Civil Liberties Union and a private lawyer, Jonathan C. Moore, praised the appeals panel’s decision.

“Today’s ruling confirms the unions cannot claim they are harmed by court orders simply requiring them to comply with the Constitution,” said Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Christopher Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the ruling marked, “happily, the beginning of actual reform.”

Summary: The judges rejected a bid by several New York police unions to enter two lawsuits challenging the Police Department’s tactics.


One of Manhattan's most expensive condominium buildings, 15 Central Park West, is known for its famous residents—like actor Denzel Washington and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein—and its very high prices. The latest big deals: a 5,610-square-foot duplex in the building is hitting the market for $62.5 million, while stock-car racing driver Jeff Gordon closed on the sale of his 3,454-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment for $25 million. Ramsay de Give for The Wall Street Journal …

The duplex, on the 18th and 19th floors, has four bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a 392-square-foot terrace facing Central Park, according to listing agent Kyle Blackmon of Brown Harris Stevens. Mike Tauber …

Separately, Jeff Gordon, a four-time winner of the Nascar Sprint Cup Series, has closed on the $25 million sale of his three-bedroom condo at 15 Central park West, real-estate agents said. Halstead Property …

The condo sold by Mr. Gordon is 3,454 square feet and has and a 46-foot long wall of windows in an open living room, dining room, and media room, overlooking the tree tops of Central park. Halstead Property …

It comes, with some finely finished details, like mahogany floors with brass in-laid edging, a black granite Sushi bar with a blackened steel counter top. Halstead Property …

An 8,200-square-foot home in San Francisco that once belonged to Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband, investor Richard C. Blum, is on the market with an asking price of $9.95 million. The sellers are Senator Feinstein's daughter and son-in-law, Judge Katherine Feinstein and Rick Mariano. Open Homes Photography …

The Tudor revival home was built in 1909 in Presidio Terrace and includes a paneled living room, pictured here. Judge Feinstein had the original leaded glass windows restored using the existing antique glass, but putting in new lead and new sashes. The stained-glass coats of arms in the living room windows date back to the first owners, but are actually made-up designs that add to the home's sense of whimsy as they poke fun at the tradition of family crests, says the judge. Open Homes Photography …

The house has five bedrooms and 5½ bathrooms. Open Homes Photography …

Among Judge Feinstein's favorite memories of the home are sitting with her mother in the upstairs den, shown here, on a rainy day and drinking coffee and talking in front of the fire. The two also liked to sit in the solarium on the first floor. Senator Feinstein and her husband bought the house in 1985. Open Homes Photography …

The family has used the landscaped garden for entertaining. The judge is sentimental about the home, explaining that her mother grew up across the street and always wanted to live in it. "She has loved this house since 1945 and I've told her it's just too much house for us right now and she said, 'You know, life is short, be happy,'" says Judge Feinstein. "Times change, life moves on, a family should live there. It's a great house to raise a family in." Open Homes Photography …

A Greenwich, Conn. compound with its own indoor basketball court and lacrosse turf is on the market for $10.85 million. On 2.47 acres, the compound includes this 20,200-square-foot, seven-bedroom, eight-bath house built in 2006. Susan Fisher Plotner …

Shown here is the kitchen. Susan Fisher Plotner …

The lower level sports the indoor basketball court and the 53-foot by 20-foot indoor lacrosse turf, both pictured here. Susan Fisher Plotner …

Summary: One New York City Building, Two Eight-Digit Price Tags; Former San Francisco Home of Dianne Feinstein Lists for $9.95 Million; Greenwich Compound With Lacrosse Turf Asks $10.85 Million


Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump appeared on Fox News last night, where he fielded a question from a viewer who wanted him to "name one specific thing he would do to protect the sanctity of human life." The GOP candidate quickly turned his focus to judicial nominees:

"I will protect [life] and the biggest way you can protect it is through the Supreme Court and putting people in the court. And actually the biggest way you can protect it, I guess, is by electing me president."

Trump added that he expects to name "as many as five" high court justices in the coming years, adding, "I will appoint judges that will be pro-life, yes."

I think there are two broad angles to keep in mind with a quote like this one. The first is the extent to which Trump's position relates to his party's Supreme Court blockade. Senators like Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and others don't like to see it framed this way, but Republican lawmakers aren't just holding open a court vacancy for a year in order to empower Trump, they're also doing so to help guarantee the confirmation of "judges that will be pro-life."

Or put another way, GOP senators are operating from an informal plan: partner with Donald Trump so the Supreme Court can roll back the clock on reproductive rights.

The second is Trump's apparent plan to make the gender gap between the parties much, much worse.

It's against this backdrop that the GOP candidate is vowing to appoint five "pro-life" justices to the Supreme Court.

In 2008 and 2012, women voters preferred President Obama to his Republican rivals by 11 percentage points in each contest. It's a safe bet that Trump will do vastly worse in November.

Summary: In recent presidential races, Republicans have struggled with a significant gender gap. In 2016, it's poised to get much worse.


A photographer who recently captured a photo of a small fish swimming inside a jellyfish off the coast of Australia said he’s surprised by the reaction the image has received on social media.

“It is crazy how much attention this little guy is getting,” Tim Samuel posted on Instagram on Tuesday.

In a previous post, Samuel said he discovered the fish while freediving in Byron Bay. He said, at the time, he hadn’t known “how unique and rare” the sighting was.

“He was trapped in there but controlled where the Jellyfish was moving,” Samuel wrote.

Ian Tibbetts, a fish biologist at the Centre for Marine Science at the University of Queensland, said it’s possible the fish is a juvenile trevally, a type of fish that commonly seeks protection among the stingers of jellyfish, according to Australian Geographic.

“It’s difficult to tell whether disaster has just struck, or whether the fish is happy to be in there,” Tibbetts said.

Summary: The photographer had no idea how "unique and rare" the sighting was


Even centuries later, there remains one big mystery about Ludwig van Beethoven’s life: When is his birthday? Though his last words were well recorded when he died on Mar. 26, 1827, the other end of his life was much more obscure. The date of his birth is often supposed to be Dec. 16, 1770, and his baptism was on the following day—245 years ago Thursday.

But there’s a lot we do know about Beethoven, and one of the most commonly known facts is that, by the end of his life, the world’s most famous musical genius couldn’t hear his own work.

Interest in Beethoven’s hearing loss has long captivated his fans, many of whom are fascinated by the tragic circumstances of a deaf composer and the ways Beethoven managed to keep working even after he completely lost his hearing by the time he was 45. As TIME once described it, “by clenching a stick in his teeth, holding it against the keyboard of his piano, he could discern faint sounds.”

He even introduced the world to what remains perhaps his most famous composition—the Ninth Symphony—well after deafness had overtaken him, an irony that produced one of the most poignant moments of his career, as TIME noted in 1932:

Three years before Ludwig van Beethoven shook his great fist at the thunder & lightning raging outside his window and fell back dead on his bed, his Ninth (last) Symphony was given its first performance in Vienna. Beethoven, a homely, dumpy, shaggy-headed little figure, stood in the orchestra, eyes fixed on his score, awkwardly beating time. He was not the official conductor. The players had been instructed to pay him no attention. He was so deaf by that time that he could hear nothing of the great, surging music called for by the pinny, almost illegible little notes he had made. He did not sense the applause which came afterwards until one of the soloists, a Fraulein Caroline Unger, turned him around so that his eyes could take it in. The music passed into the background then. The demonstration took a sudden, emotional turn as the people started shouting, beating their palms together still harder in an effort to assure the fierce-looking little man of their sympathy, their appreciation.

That appreciation did nothing to lift the melancholy that had settled on Beethoven by then. Though he would joke about his other ailments, his letters later revealed to the world that his hearing problems only left him depressed, isolated from society and afraid that he was being taken advantage of. “My poor hearing haunted me everywhere like a ghost; and I have avoided all human society,” he once wrote. “I seem a misanthrope and yet am far from being one.”

Yet his hearing loss and the way he coped with it in daily life has helped preserve his story for the ages.

Because he used a notebook to conduct conversations with friends, family and colleagues, the written records of those conversations could be maintained. The transcripts are often one-sided, as he would still respond to many questions verbally, but “they make clear what Beethoven was thinking about,” TIME noted when the ‘conversation notebooks’ were released in the 1970s, “and where he occasionally wrote in the books himself—usually for a comment that he did not want others in the room to overhear—the blunt style is unmistakable. Nephew Karl brings home a somewhat seedy friend, and Beethoven jots down: ‘I don’t like your choice of this friend at all. Poverty deserves sympathy, but not without exceptions.'”

In the 1990s, a few American fans of his purchased a lock of Beethoven’s hair at an auction for the purpose of examining the medical data preserved within, hoping to find out once and for all whether his deafness was really, as had been long supposed, caused by use of mercury as treatment for syphilis. That lock of hair is kept at San José State University, and as of 2000 no tell-tale mercury had been found.

Read more about Beethoven’s birthday: You Have to Try This Google Doodle Honoring Ludwig van Beethoven

Read an assessment of Beethoven on the 200th anniversary of his death, here in the TIME Vault: 200-Condlepower

Summary: He was born 245 years ago, and the tragedy of his hearing loss still captivates music fans


07/30/2016 AT 01:45 PM EDT

Suzanne Wright, the cofounder of Autism Speaks, has died after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 69.

Wright died on Friday surrounded by family at her home in Fairfield, Connecticut, according to a statement released by an Autism Speaks spokesperson. She and her husband of 48 years, Bob Wright, started the foundation in 2005 after their grandson Christian was diagnosed with autism. Since then, she helped make the blue puzzle piece a representation of autism awareness and has worked to educate parents on the early signs of autism.

"Autism is unrelenting. It is every minute, every hour, every day," she

"What Suzanne Wright has done to raise awareness of autism is immeasurable," Autism Speaks Chairman of the Board of Directors Brian Kelly and President and CEO Angela Geiger said in a joint statement. "Even during the past few difficult months, her determination never wavered..."

Kelly and Geiger said starting this conversation is Wright's "greatest legacy."

"Suzanne sparked a global conversation with one question: How can we help people with autism live their best possible lives? Persuading the world to see the potential in each child and adult on the vast autism spectrum is her greatest legacy," the said in the statement.

In 2008, Suzanne and Bob were named in

100's "Heroes and Pioneers" category, among other awards and honors, for their commitment to global autism advocacy, according to the statement.

Summary: Wright leaves behind a legacy of advocating for autism awareness with her husband Bob