13
WON
The Scripps National
Spelling Bee, by
eight students who
reached a draw when
organizers said they
were running out of
difficult words after
midnight on May 31.
APOLOGIZED
Twitter, for blocking
accounts criticizing
the Chinese
government shortly
before the 30th
anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square
massacre on June 4.
RULED
That Olympic runner
Caster Semenya can
compete in all races
for now, by a Swiss
court on June
when it temporarily
suspended rules
that would require
her to take hormone-
suppressing
medication.
PLANNED
That the U.S. will
send Homeland
Security agents
to Guatemala, the
Trump Administration
said, to work with
local authorities to
deter migrants.
PLEDGED
That Finland will
become carbon-
neutral by 2035, by
the country’s new
liberal government
on June 3.
ANNOUNCED
The shutdown of
iTunes, by Apple
on June 3. It will be
replaced with apps
for music, TV and
podcasts.
CHARGED
Former Parkland,
Fla., school
resource officer
Scot Peterson, on
counts related to not
protecting students
during the shooting
there last year, by
Florida authorities on
June 4.
Chase, seen here in 2014, inspired the character Princess Tiana
in the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog
when she made roux for her shrimp-and-sausage gumbo
(1 cup peanut oil and 8 tbsp. flour) in her joyfully elegant restau-
rant in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, Leah Chase,
who died on June 1 at age 96, stirred very slowly with her wooden
spoon until it blended to the color of café au lait and could bind
together all the diverse ingredients. So, too, did the binding magic
of her roux and her smile extend to people.
During the 1960s, local civil rights leaders gathered regularly
at Dooky Chase’s, the art-filled epicenter of Creole cuisine that
she and her husband founded in the 1940s, to meet not only with
Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, but also with mem-
bers of the white political and social establishment who were ded-
icated patrons.
“Food builds big bridges,” she liked to say.
And thus she transformed not only New Orleans cuisine, but
also its political and social life with a smile as radiant as her bread
pudding and a sense of humor as spicy as her gumbo—which she
once protected with a slap on the hand when Barack Obama tried
to add hot sauce without tasting it first.
Isaacson, a former editor of TIME, is a professor of history at Tulane University
DIED
Leah Chase
Chef who changed a city
By Walter Isaacson
Milestones
ENDED
What is a
Jeopardy!
winning
streak?
afTer Taking home
$2.46 million on Jeopardy!,
contestant James Holzhauer
was within $60,000 of the
show’s all-time winnings re-
cord when, on June 3, his 32-
game streak came to an end.
Holzhauer’s signature
style could be summed up in
two words: big money. Early
in the game he would jump
around the high-value an-
swers at the bottom of the
board. Then, when he hit a
Daily Double, he would bet
most of his pot (a risk for
which his career as a sports
gambler left him prepared)
and effectively double his
score if he answered right.
Critics complained that this
steamrolling strategy was no
fun to watch. But his loss—
on the day he was expected
to break the record, earn-
ing the show its highest rat-
ings of the season—proved
Jeopardy! is still competitive.
His legacy will live on as
new players adopt his strat-
egy, and are perhaps inspired
to invent their own. After all,
bold wagers allowed librarian
Emma Boettcher to dethrone
the champ. Holzhauer didn’t
break the game after all. But
he did make it more exciting.
—emily barone
CHASE: JOSH TELLES—AUGUST; HOLZHAUER: JEOPARDY PRODUCTIONS INC.
