--- description: DIED Author Bel Kaufman, at 103. Her best-selling 1965 novel, Up the Down Staircase, about a young teacher dealing with the New York City school... title: Milestones image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Milestones (31 Jul 2014) by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2014 10:00 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2014 10:00 AM CUT DIED Author Bel Kaufman, at 103\. Her best-selling 1965 novel, Up the Down Staircase, about a young teacher dealing with the New York City school system, was based on her experiences. NOMINATED Rabbi David Saperstein, for the position of U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Saperstein will be the first non-Christian in the role. DETAINED Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, along with his wife Yeganeh Salehi and two American photographers, in Tehran. The reason for the arrests is unclear. HONORED A dozen new recipients of the National Medal of Arts, in a White House ceremony. This year’s honorees include Linda Ronstadt, Jeffrey Katzenberg and James Turrell. AWARDED A $1.8 million judgment to former Minnesota governor and wrestler Jesse Ventura, by a federal jury who found he was defamed in the 2012 book American Sniper, by late Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3062893/milestones-128/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3062893/milestones-128/"},"headline":"Milestones (31 Jul 2014)","datePublished":"2014-07-31T10:00:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T20:04:04.467Z","description":"DIED Author Bel Kaufman, at 103. Her best-selling 1965 novel, Up the Down Staircase, about a young teacher dealing with the New York City school...","url":"https://time.com/3062893/milestones-128/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3062893/milestones-128/","name":"Milestones (31 Jul 2014)"}}]}] ```