Frank Foster, a saxophonist and composer/arranger best known for his longtime association with the Count Basie Orchestra, has died. He passed away in his sleep early Tuesday morning at his home in Chesapeake, Va., according to his widow and manager, Cecilia Foster. He was 82.

Foster was a key member of the "New Testament" Basie band — the large ensemble Basie led in the 1950s and beyond. In addition to his playing on tenor saxophone and other woodwinds, he contributed many melodies and arrangements. At least one of those tunes, "Shiny Stockings," became a jazz standard.

Like all of Richard Wagner's music, performances of his piece Siegfried Idyll, is unofficially — but effectively — banned in Israel.

It's not just that Wagner was an anti-Semite. He wrote a notorious essay called "Jewishness in Music." And after his death, Wagner's family was close to Adolph Hitler. Hitler often the attended the annual Bayreuth Festival, which is devoted to Wagner's music.

The bulk of Alexander McQueen's 16-million pound ($26 million) estate will go to his Sarabande charity, according to documents made public Tuesday. The renowned fashion designer killed himself in February 2010, following closely on his mother's death.

McQueen said in his will that he hoped Sarabande would support scholarships at the Central St. Martins College of Art and Design, which he attended.

A week from now, the U.S. Treasury may default on some debts as it hits against a $14.3-trillion debt ceiling.

Despite that once-unthinkable possibility, financial markets appear calm. The stock market has not crashed and interest rates have held steady.

Still, one indicator is showing investors are getting nervous: the cost of insuring U.S. government debt against default is starting to spike.

"It's an early-warning indicator," says Otis C. Casey III, director of credit research for Markit Group Ltd., a London-based financial information services company.

When McDonald's announced Tuesday that it would make the standard child's Happy Meal more healthful, company officials said they were responding to the desires of its customers. But the move also makes business sense, analysts say.

"This is good publicity and if you sell more happy meals, you're likely selling more Big Macs to the parents," said Peter Saleh, a restaurant analyst with Telsey Advisory Group in New York.

Even papayas can spread salmonellla, it turns out.

There's a recall of papayas from Mexico after testing by the Food and Drug Administration found samples from Agromod Produce had the same strain of bacteria seen in outbreaks of salmonella affecting 97 people in 23 states.

McAllen, Texas-based Agromod Produce distributes four papaya brands: Blondie, Mananita, Tastylicious and Yaya.

With a debt ceiling deadline approaching, party leaders spent the day counting votes.

There are two plans: One, the handiwork of House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), the other from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

The problem is that it's not clear that either one can muster the votes necessary for approval.

Monday night, President Obama dramatized the threat this way:

Wisconsin has been the scene of plenty of political altercations over the past few months: from legislators fleeing the state to avoid a union bill vote, to the state House being shut down because of protestors, to one Supreme Court justice holding another one

A group protested outside Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) Louisville office on Tuesday. The protest was meant to raise awareness of a bill being considered by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions, which Paul sits on. The legislation was drafted by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA). It will help protect youth with disabilities from sub-minimum wage employment and will help them into the competitive workforce, Harkin wrote in an email.

Speaker John Boehner's plan for raising the debt ceiling in two steps and cutting the budget comes to the House floor Wednesday. Does he have the votes to pass it? Then what?