Old Records, New Speculation: Artist Vincent van...

Old Records, New Speculation: Artist Vincent van Gogh probably killed himself after learning that his brother and benefactor, Theo, was dying of syphilis, and the artist feared the end of his career, a scholar said. University of Pittsburgh art history Professor Aaron Sheon based his conclusions on the recent discovery of Theo’s 100-year-old medical records in the Netherlands. “This is the most important van Gogh discovery in the last quarter century,” Sheon said.

He Knows: Fans of Tom Clancy’s techno-spy thrillers may wonder about his sources of information, but they shouldn’t have similar questions for Sen. William Cohen (R-Me.). The legislator has just published “One-Eyed Kings,” his first solo novel. The protagonist is Sean Falcone--knowledgeable chairman of a Senate intelligence committee--and Cohen is a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Revealing: An additional 47 1/2 hours of President Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes will be made public June 4, the National Archives said Monday. The tapes are of conversations between Nixon and his top aides, including John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman and John Dean and John Mitchell. The 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex led to Nixon’s 1974 resignation.

Spin Cycle: Spin controllers at the Ketchum public relations firm worried that the environmental group Greenpeace might target the Clorox Co., a Ketchum client--so they drew up plans for a hypothetical PR disaster. But they blanched when their plans were leaked. If there is a call for a Clorox boycott, the plans said, the company should think about suing for slander. If a scientific report links chlorine to cancer, “cast doubts on the methodology and findings.” Greenpeace said the group is not targeting Clorox. Company spokesperson Sandy Sullivan said Clorox “was not acting on” the plans.