There was one important rule to keep in mind if you stayed at Maya Angelou’s house: Don’t startle her in the middle of the night. Angelou, who died in 2014 and lived alone in the latter decades of her life, liked to feel safe at night, and for a girl who grew up in the segregated south of St. Louis, Mo., and Stamps, Ark., feeling safe eventually meant sleeping with a gun under her pillow.

I believe that the four Confederate monuments in New Orleans that became a dominating presence in my life for well more than two years never reflected what the true society of New Orleans, generations ago, actually felt when they were built. The structures reflected what the people who erected them, mostly ex-Confederate soldiers or sympathizers, believed because they had the power to build them and because they wanted to send a particular political message.

Item: Guarneri del Gesù violin Winning Bid: $3.9 million Sold: 2007 Even if you don't play the violin, you've probably heard of Antonio Stradivari, the famous Italian craftsman of stringed instruments (or luthier, as such a person is known). But it was Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarnieri, the grandson of one of Stradivari's apprentices, whose instrument broke the world record for the highest-priced auction item. The 250-year-old violin — one of only 250 Guarnieri instruments that survive — was purchased by a Russian lawyer.

March 22, 2018 6:23 PM EDT A bill that would require children under 14 to wear seat belts has passed the Oklahoma House and is on its way to the state senate. Right now, children between the ages of 8 and 13 are allowed to ride in the back seat of cars in Oklahoma without buckling up. HB3026 would outlaw that possibility and require parents to secure children under the age of 14 with seat belts.

Successful national talk show host Phil Donahue, who entertained, challenged and informed two generations of daytime television viewers, died on Sunday night following a long illness, Variety has confirmed. He was 88. The news of his death was first announced Monday morning on the “Today” show. “Groundbreaking TV talk show journalist Phil Donahue died Sunday night at home surrounded by his wife of 44 years Marlo Thomas, his sister, his children, grandchildren and his beloved golden retriever Charlie,” his family said in a statement.