IN: Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 - April 3, 1950) was a German composer, active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work The Threepenny Opera, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose.

Back in Berlin, Weill had an interview with Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preussische Akademie der Kunste in Berlin.  From January 1921 to December 1923, Weill studied music composition with him and also counterpoint with Philipp Jarnach in Berlin. During his first year he composed his first symphony, Sinfonie in einem Satz, as well as the lieder Die Bekehrte (Goethe) and two Rilkelieder for voice and piano. To support his family in Leipzig, he also worked as a pianist in a Bierkeller tavern. In 1922, Weill joined the November Group's music faction. That year he composed a psalm, a divertimento for orchestra, and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra. On November 18, 1922, his children's pantomime Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) premiered at the Theater am Kurfurstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre.  Out of financial need, Weill taught music theory and composition to private students from 1923 to 1925. Among his students were Claudio Arrau, Maurice Abravanel, Heinz Jolles (later known as Henry Jolles), and Nikos Skalkottas. Arrau, Abravenel, and Jolles remained members of Weill's circle of friends thereafter, and Jolles's sole surviving composition predating the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 is a fragment of a work for four pianos he and Weill wrote jointly.  Weill's compositions during his last year of studies included Quodlibet, an orchestral suite version of Die Zaubernacht, Frauentanz, seven medieval poems for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, and Recordare for choir and children's choir to words from the Book of Lamentations. Further premieres that year included a performance of his Divertimento for Orchestra by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Heinz Unger on April 10, 1923, and the Hindemith-Amar Quartet's rendering of Weill's String Quartet, Op. 8, on June 24, 1923. In December 1923, Weill finished his studies with Busoni.
QUESTION: What did Busoni think of Weill's compositions?
IN: Michael Bloomberg was born at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, on February 14, 1942. Bloomberg's family is Jewish. Bloomberg's father, William Henry Bloomberg (1906-1963), was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts and worked as an accountant for a dairy company. He was the son of Alexander "Elick" Bloomberg, an immigrant from Russia.

During his second term as the mayor of New York City, Bloomberg unveiled PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York on April 22, 2007, to fight global warming, protect the environment and prepare for the projected 1 million additional people expected to be living in the city by the year 2030.  Under PlaNYC, in just 6 years New York City reduced citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 19% since 2005 and was on track to achieve a 30% reduction ahead of the PlaNYC 2030 goal. In October 2007 as part of PlaNYC, Bloomberg launched the Million Trees NYC initiative, which aimed to plant and care for one million trees throughout the city in the next decade. In November 2015, New York City planted its one millionth tree, two years ahead of the original 10-year schedule.  In 2008, Bloomberg convened the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), an effort to prepare the city for climate change. In 2012, Travel + Leisure readers voted New York City the "Dirtiest American City," for having the most extant litter. Bloomberg has been involved in motivating other cities to make changes and has spoken about reducing carbon dioxide emissions, using cleaner and more efficient fuels, using congestion pricing in New York City, and encouraging public transportation.  Bloomberg unveiled the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) in June 2013, after the city was affected by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The $20-billion initiative laid out extensive plans to protect New York City against future the impacts of climate change. On September 26, 2013, Bloomberg announced that his administration's air pollution reduction efforts had resulted in the best air quality in New York City in more than 50 years. The majority of the air quality improvement was attributed to the phasing out of heavy polluting heating oils through New York's "Clean Heat" program. As a result of the improved air quality, the average life expectancy of New Yorkers had increased three years during Bloomberg's tenure, compared to 1.8 years in the rest of the country.
QUESTION: Did he take any actions of other environmental issues ?
IN: Gregory James "Greg" LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Road Race World Championship twice (1983 and 1989) and the Tour de France three times (1986, 1989 and 1990). He is also an entrepreneur and anti-doping advocate. LeMond was born in Lakewood, California, and raised in ranch country on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, near Reno. He is married and has three children with his wife Kathy, with whom he supports a variety of charitable causes and organizations.

LeMond is a longtime vocal opponent of performance-enhancing drug use. He first spoke on-record against doping in cycling after winning the 1989 Tour de France. LeMond received intense criticism in 2001 when he publicly expressed doubts about the legitimacy of Lance Armstrong's Tour success after learning of his relationship with Dr. Michele Ferrari. His outspokenness placed him in the center of the anti-doping controversy.  LeMond has consistently questioned the relationship between riders and unethical sports doctors like Ferrari, and has pointed out that doping products ultimately victimize the professional cyclists who make use of them. Said LeMond: "When I speak out about doping people could translate it and think it was about the riders. Actually I feel like I am an advocate for the riders. I look at them as being treated like lab rats that are test vehicles for the doctors. The doctors, the management, the officials, they're the ones that have corrupted riders. The riders are the only ones that pay the price."  LeMond's most notable conflicts have been with fellow Tour riders Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. He has also been critical of Alberto Contador, the UCI, and its former president, Pat McQuaid. In December 2012, LeMond claimed that a change needed to be made at the head of leadership for the UCI, and stated if called upon he would be willing to take the position himself if necessary to lead cycling out of the mire of doping. Said LeMond: "It is now or never to act. After the earthquake caused by the Armstrong case another chance will not arise. I am willing to invest to make this institution more democratic, transparent and look for the best candidate in the longer term."  McQuaid rejected LeMond's call for new leadership and was dismissive of LeMond. Ultimately McQuaid was defeated in his bid for a third term by British Cycling president Brian Cookson at the September 2013 UCI Congress in Florence, Italy. Lemond had supported Cookson in the UCI Presidential battle.
QUESTION:
Why was he dismissive?