--------------------------------------------

Today is Monday, May 3rd.

The 124th day of 2004.

There are 242 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Twenty-five years ago, on May 3, 1979, Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain's first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labor government in parliamentary elections.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1649, 1st American law to regulate the practice of medicine passed in New York.



In 1654, America's first toll bridge was erected at Rowley, Massachusetts over the Newbury River. It was permitted to charge a toll for animals, while people crossed for free.



In 1802, Washington, D.C., was incorporated as a city.



In 1841, New Zealand is proclaimed a British colony.



In 1903, Singer Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was born in Tacoma, WA. He died in Madrid, Spain on October 14, 1977 at the age of 74.



In 1916, Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.



In 1921, West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.



In 1933, Nellie T. Ross became the first female director of the U.S. Mint.



In 1934, Dell becomes the first publisher to offer comic books for sale to the public "Famous Funnies".



In 1937, Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "Gone With the Wind"



In 1944, U.S. wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended.



In 1945, Indian forces captured Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese.



In 1947, Japan introduces a new constitution, in which women vote for the first time.



In 1948, The Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups were legally unenforceable.



In 1963, "Police Brutality in Birmingham" Peacefully protesting segregation in local stores and restaurants, a group of more than 1,000 blacks, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., marched through this Alabama city. They were met with unprovoked and terrifying violence by the Birmingham police, goaded on by Commissioner "Bull" Connor. First, attack dogs were set loose on the protesters, then the marchers were blasted with fire hoses shooting water at 100 p.s.i., enough force to knock bark off trees. The evening news programs on all three networks showed extensive footage of the appalling police response. The broadcasts awakened the nation to the barbarity being committed in the name of racial segregation and added considerable impetus to the civil rights movement.



In 1965, Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with the US.



In 1965, 1st use of satellite TV, Today Show on the Early Bird Satellite



In 1965, KTCI TV channel 17 in St Paul-Minneapolis MN (PBS) 1st broadcast



In 1971, Anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C. aimed at shutting down the nation's capital. Nixon administration arrests 13,000 anti-war protesters in 3 days.



In 1971, National Public Radio (NPR) began its programming.



In 1978, "Sun Day" fell on a Wednesday as thousands of people extolling the virtues of solar energy held events across the country.



In 1986, In NASA 's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.



In 1988, The White House acknowledged that first lady Nancy Reagan had used astrological advice to help schedule her husband's activities.



In 1991, The final episode of "Dallas" aired on CBS.



In 2000, The trial of two Libyans accused of killing 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 (over Lockerbie) opened.



Ten years ago (1994):



President Clinton presided over a televised forum from Atlanta, during which he denied suggestions he'd vacillated on foreign policy, but said global problems were more difficult than he'd imagined.



Five years ago (1999):



Tornadoes roared across Oklahoma and Kansas, killing at least three dozen people and injuring hundreds.



The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 11,000, just 24 trading days after passing 10,000.



Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi met with President Clinton at the White House during the first official U.S. visit by a Japanese premier in 12 years.



One year ago (2003):



President Bush told a news conference in Crawford, Texas, it was a matter of when - not if - weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq.



Pope John Paul II urged hundreds of thousands of young people outside Madrid to be "artisans of peace."



New Hampshire awoke to find its granite symbol of independence and stubbornness, the "Old Man of the Mountain", had collapsed into rubble.



Funny Cide rolled to victory in the Kentucky Derby.



Model and actress Suzy Parker died in Montecito, Calif., at age 69.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Broadway librettist Betty Comden is 85.



Folk singer Pete Seeger is 85.



Singer James Brown is 71.



Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is 68.



Sports announcer Greg Gumbel is 58.



Singer Frankie Valli is 67.



Singer Christopher Cross is 53.



Country musician Cactus Moser (Highway 101) is 47.



Rock musician David Ball (Soft Cell) is 45.



Country singer Shane Minor is 36.



Country singer Brad Martin is 31.



Actor Dule Hill is 29.



Actress Jill Berard is 14.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Nostalgia isn't what it used to be." -

- Peter De Vries, American author

------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------

Today is Sunday, May 2nd.

The 123rd day of 2004.

There are 243 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On May 2, 1863, Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Va.; he died eight days later.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1507, Two years after entering the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, future German reformer Martin Luther, 23, was consecrated a priest. (Luther remained in the order until 1521, when he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.)



In 1519, Artist Leonardo da Vinci died at Cloux, France.



In 1670, The Hudson Bay Company was chartered by England's King Charles II.



In 1776, France & Spain agree to donate arms to American rebels



In 1780, William Herschel discovers the first binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris.



In 1798, The black General Toussaint L’ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the port of Santo Domingo.



In 1865, The first fire department with paid firemen is established in New York City by an act of the state legislature.



In 1865, President Andrew Johnson offered $100,000 reward for the capture of former CSA President Jefferson Davis.



In 1885, "Good Housekeeping" magazine was first published by Clark W. Bryan in Holyoke, Massachusetts.



In 1887, Hannibal W Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film



In 1890, The Oklahoma Territory was organized.



In 1902, The 1st science fiction film, "A Trip To The Moon", is released



In 1903, Doctor/Author/Activist Benjamin McLane Spockwas born in New Haven, CT. He died March 15, 1998 at the age of 94.



In 1926, U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to put down a revolt and to protect U.S. interests. They did not depart until 1933.



In 1932, Jack Benny's first radio show made its debut on the NBC "Blue" Network.



In 1932, Pulitzer prize awarded to Pearl S Buck (The Good Earth)



In 1936, "Peter and the Wolf," a symphonic tale for children by Sergei Prokofiev, had its world premiere in Moscow.



In 1937, Actor/Comedian Lorenzo Music ("Rhoda"'s Carlton the doorman, the voice of Garfield the cat) was born. He died August 4, 2001 at the age of 64



In 1938, Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder (Our Town).



In 1939, Lou Gehrig set a new major-league baseball record when he played in his 2,130th game.



In 1941, FCC approves regular scheduled commercial TV broadcasts to begin July 1



In 1944, Ted Williams was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Air Corps and was awarded his wings.



In 1944, WABD (WNEW, now WNYW) TV channel 5 in New York NY (DUM/MET/FOX) 1st broadcast



In 1945, The Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin, and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.



In 1946, Prisoners revolted at California's Alcatraz prison.



In 1949, Pulitzer prize awarded to Arthur Miller (Death of a salesman).



In 1952, Ted Williams again reported for active duty as a Marine fighter pilot.



In 1955, Tennessee Williams won a Pulitzer prize for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."



In 1955, WGBH TV channel 2 in Boston MA (PBS) begins broadcasting



In 1957, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, the controversial Republican senator from Wisconsin, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.



In 1960, Convicted sex offender and best-selling author Caryl Chessman was executed at San Quentin Prison in California.



In 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary performed "Puff the Magic Dragon" on American Bandstand.



In 1965, The Early Bird satellite was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.



In 1969, The British passenger liner Queen Elizabeth 2, left on her maiden voyage to New York.



In 1970, Student anti-war protesters at Ohio's Kent State University burn down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard took control of the campus.



In 1972, After serving 48 years as head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77.



In 1974, Former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals, effectively preventing him from practicing law anywhere in the United States.



In 1975, Apple Records closes down



In 1977, The nation's first major anti-nuclear protest is staged at the Seabrook Facility in New Hampshire.



In 1981 Radio Shack re-releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3 with 2 fixes



In 1982, In the Falklands War, the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by the British submarine Conqueror; more than 350 men were killed.



In 1983, A 6.7 earthquake injures 487 in Coalinga CA



In 1986, Soviet official Boris N. Yeltsin told West German television that water reservoirs near the crippled Chernobyl nuclear power plant were contaminated with radioactivity.



In 1996, President Clinton vetoed a cap on punitive damage awards.



In 1997, Police arrest transsexual hooker Atisone Seiuli with Eddie Murphy



In 1997, Tony Blair became Britain's youngest prime minister in 185 years. He was 44 years old.



In 1998, In separate radio addresses, President Clinton and congressional Republicans lambasted the Internal Revenue Service and promised more reforms to prevent abuses of the tax-collecting agency in the future.



Ten years ago (1994):



Nelson Mandela claimed victory in the wake of South Africa's first democratic elections; President F.W. de Klerk acknowledged defeat.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav authorities handed over to the Rev. Jesse Jackson three American prisoners of war who'd been held for a month.



Actor Oliver Reed died in Malta at age 61.



One year ago (2003):



A federal court struck down most of the new campaign finance law's ban on the use of large corporate and union contributions by political parties. (However, the Supreme Court later ruled that rooting out corruption, or even the appearance of it, justified limitations on the free speech and free spending of contributors, candidates and political parties.)



India and Pakistan agreed to hold talks on settling a half-century of disputes that had drawn them into three wars.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Theodore Bikel is 80.



Actor Roscoe Lee Browne is 79.



Rock musician Link Wray is 75.



Bianca Jagger is 59.



Country singer R.C. Bannon is 59.



Singer Lesley Gore is 58.



Singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin is 56.



Rock singer Lou Gramm (Foreigner) is 54.



Actress Christine Baranski is 52.



Singer Angela Bofill is 50.



Actress Elizabeth Berridge is 42.



Country singer Ty Herndon is 42.



Rock musician Todd Sucherman (Styx) is 35.



Wrestler-actor The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) is 32.



Actress Jenna Von Oy is 27.



Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes is 19.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"What experience and history teach is this: that people and governments have never learned anything from history." -

- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (1770-1831).

--------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

Today is Saturday, May 1st.

The 122nd day of 2004.

There are 244 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1704, The Boston Newsletter published the first newspaper ad.



In 1707, The Act of Union unites England, Wales and Scotland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain; the countries adopt a single flag, the Union Jack.



In 1784, New York University is established.



In 1786, Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna.



In 1794, The first trade union in America is formed -- the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers -- (shoemakers).



In 1815, Georgetown University is founded in Washington, D.C.



In 1844, Samuel Morse sends 1st telegraphic message



In 1852, Adventurer "Calamity Jane" (Martha Jane Canary Burke) was born. She died August 1, 1903 at the age of 51.



In 1869, The "Folies-Bergère" opens in Paris France



In 1883 "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his 1st Wild West Show



In 1884, Construction began in Chicago on the first skyscraper (the first steel skeleton construction), the ten-story Home Insurance Company of New York.



In 1889, Bayer introduces aspirin in powder form (Germany).



In 1893, The World's Columbian Exposition was officially opened in Chicago by President Cleveland.



In 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.



In 1912, The Beverly Hills Hotel opened.



In 1915, The liner Lusitania left New York on the same day the German Embassy took out advertisements warning anyone traveling on ships carrying a British flag that they did so at their own risk. It was sunk six days later with the loss of 1,198 lives.



In 1918, Tv host Jack Paar was born Canton, OH. He died January 27, 2004 at the age of 85.



In 1927, Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin. 17 years and 364 days later he commits suicide as the Soviet Russian Army enters Berlin.



In 1928, "Lei Day" is first observed (a Hawaiian celebration).



In 1931, New York's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated.



In 1931, Singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on CBS.



In 1935, Boulder Dam was finished after 4 years and 354 days.



In 1937, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.



In 1941, The Orson Welles motion picture "Citizen Kane" premiered in New York.



In 1941, The cereal Cheerios was introduced by General Mills.



In 1943, Food rationing began in the U.S.



In 1944,The Messerschmitt Me-262 Sturmvogel, the first operational jet aircraft (twin-jet fighter), makes its 1st flight



In 1945, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels committed suicide.



In 1959, West Germany introduced the 5 day work week.



In 1961, A Delta airliner destined for Miami became the first plane to be hijacked to Cuba by an armed gunman.



In 1963, Lesley Gore performed "It's My Party" on "American Bandstand."



In 1964, First BASIC program run on a computer (Dartmouth).



In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. (They divorced in 1973.)



In 1970, Students at Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, OH, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.



In 1971, Amtrak — which combined and streamlined the operations of 18 intercity passenger railroads — went into service.



In 1973, In Washington, DC, it was reported that there was evidence of a Watergate cover-up by top Nixon aides.



In 1975, Smokey the Bear retires after 25 years of public service.



In 1978, Ernest Morial was inaugurated as the first black mayor of New Orleans.



In 1981, Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3.



In 1988, The final episode of "Magnum, p.i." aired.



In 1988, "Newsweek" magazine reported that, according to a memoir by former White House chief of staff Donald Regan, astrology had influenced the planning of President Reagan's schedule.



In 1992, President Bush ordered 4,000 military troops into the riot-ravaged streets of Los Angeles.



In 1998, Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona, Calif., at age 62.



In 2001, In Washington, DC, Chandra Levy disappeared. She was an intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. California Representative Gary Condit was named in the investigation. Her body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.



Ten years ago (1994):



Israeli and PLO delegates opened a final round of talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian autonomy prior to the signing of an agreement on self-rule.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic agreed to hand over three captured U.S. soldiers to the Reverend Jesse Jackson.



Despite protests, the National Rifle Association held its annual meeting in Denver 11 days after the Columbine shootings.



The "Liberty Bell Seven," the Mercury space capsule flown by Gus Grissom, was found in the Atlantic 300 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 38 years after it sank.



An amphibious boat (known as a "duck") sank at Hot Springs, Ark., killing 13.



"Charismatic," a 30-1 shot, charged to victory in the 125th Kentucky Derby.



One year ago (2003):



In Fallujah, Iraq, seven U.S. Army soldiers were injured when attackers threw two grenades into a compound. The attack occurred just hours after American fired on Iraqi protesters in the street outside after they received fire.



President Bush, speaking to the nation from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln off the Southern California coast, declared major combat in Iraq over, but also said "difficult work" remained ahead.



A magnitude 6.4 earthquake killed 177 people in Turkey.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Glenn Ford is 88.



Actor Dan O'Herlihy is 85.



Comedian Louis Nye (Nyestadt) is 82.



Former astronaut ("Aurora 7") Malcolm Scott Carpenter is 79.



Country singer Sonny James is 75.



Jazz singer Shirley Horn is 70.



Singer Judy Collins is 65.



Actor Stephen Macht is 62.



Singer Rita Coolidge is 59.



Actor-director Douglas Barr is 55.



Actor Dann Florek is 53.



Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Junior is 50.



Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen is 44.



Actress Maia Morgenstern ("The Passion of the Christ") is 42.



Country singer Wayne Hancock is 39.



Rock musician Johnny Colt is 38.



Actor Charlie Schlatter is 38.



Country singer Tim McGraw is 37.



Rock musician D'Arcy is 36.



Country singer Cory Morrow is 32.



Actor Darius McCrary is 28.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Think much, speak little, and write less." -

- Italian proverb.

-----------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

Today is Friday, April 30th.

The 121st day of 2004.

There are 245 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



One hundred years ago, on April 30th, 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in St. Louis as President Theodore Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key at the White House to signal the official start of the world's fair commemorating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, albeit a year late. (The fair drew some 20 million visitors before it closed the following December.)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1006, The brightest supernova in recorded history is observed.



In 1789, George Washington took office in New York as the first president of the United States.



In 1798, The U.S. Department of the Navy was established.



In 1803, The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.



In 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state of the Union.



In 1864, New York became the first state to charge a hunting license fee.



In 1885, The Boston Pops Orchestra is formed.



In 1900, Engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in an effort to save the passengers.



In 1900, Hawaii was organized as a U.S. territory.



In 1904, 100 years ago, the ice cream cone made its debut.



In 1912, Actress Eve Arden (Eunice Quedens) was born in Mill Valley, CA. She died November 12, 1990 at the age of 78.



In 1931, The George Washington Bridge, linking New York City and New Jersey, opened.



In 1939, The New York World's Fair officially opened.



In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to appear on television when he was televised at the New York World's Fair.



In 1943, The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped 'the man who never was,' a dead man the British planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain.



In 1945, As Russian troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.



In 1947, President Truman signed a measure officially changing the name of Boulder Dam to Hoover Dam.



In 1952, Mr Potato Head is the 1st toy to be advertised on television



In 1961, The 1st shuttle flights between Washington DC, Boston MA & New York NY begin (Eastern Airlines)



In 1962, NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to an altitude of 75,190 meters (246,683 feet/ 46.72 miles).



In 1964, The FCC ruled that all TV receivers should be equipped to receive both VHF and UHF channels.



In 1969, WEDB TV channel 40 in Berlin NH (PBS) begins broadcasting



In 1970, President Nixon announced the U.S. was sending troops into Cambodia, an action that sparked widespread protest.



In 1973, President Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, along with Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean.



In 1975, The South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces as President Duong Van Minh announced an unconditional surrender. The communists occupied Saigon and re-named it Ho Chi Minh City. The Vietnam War came to an halt.



In 1988, The largest banana split ever, at 4.55 miles long, is made in Selinsgrove PA



In 1991, In Bangladesh a cyclone (hurricane) kills over 131,000 and leaves 9 million homeless



In 1992, The final episode of "The Cosby Show" aired on NBC.



In 1995, President Clinton announced he would end U.S. trade and investment with Iran, denouncing the Tehran government as "inspiration and paymaster to terrorists."



In 1997, The television series "Ellen" made TV history when its lead character "came out" as a lesbian.



In 1998, A man set himself on fire and shot himself to death on a Los Angeles area freeway in a scene captured on live television.



In 2001, The world's first space "tourist", California businessman Dennis Tito, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.



Ten years ago (1994):



The counting of ballots began in South Africa's first all-race elections.



Some 100,000 men, women and children fleeing ethnic slaughter in Rwanda crossed into neighboring Tanzania.



Five years ago (1999):



A bomb exploded at a gay pub in London, killing three people and injuring more than 70.



The Reverend Jesse Jackson met with three U.S. soldiers being held prisoner by Yugoslavia.



One year ago (2003):



International mediators presented Israeli and Palestinian leaders with a new Middle East "road map," a U.S.-backed blueprint for ending 31 months of violence and establishing a Palestinian state. Mahmoud Abbas took office as Palestinian prime minister.



The U.S. Navy withdrew from its disputed Vieques bombing range in Puerto Rico, prompting celebrations by islanders.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Al Lewis (The Munsters' "Grandpa Munster", Car 54 Where Are You?'s "Off. Leo Schnauser") is 94.



Actress Cloris Leachman is 78.



Singer Willie Nelson is 71.



Actor Gary Collins is 66.



Actor Burt Young is 64.



Singer Bobby Vee is 61.



Actress Jill Clayburgh is 60.



King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustav is 58.



Movie director Allan Arkush is 56.



Actor Perry King is 56.



Singer Merrill Osmond is 51.



Movie director Jane Campion is 50.



Actor Paul Gross is 45.



Basketball executive Isiah Thomas is 43.



Country musician Robert Reynolds (The Mavericks) is 42.



Rapper Turbo B (Snap) is 37.



Rock musician Clark Vogeler is 35.



Rhythm and blues singer Chris "Choc" Dalyrimple (Soul For Real) is 33.



Rock musician Chris Henderson (3 Doors Down) is 33.



Country singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson is 33.



Rock singer J.R. Richards (Dishwalla) is 32.



Rhythm and blues singer Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) is 31.



Actor Johnny Galecki is 29.



Actress Kirsten Dunst is 22.



Country singer Tyler Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 20.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"More persons, on the whole, are humbugged by believing nothing, than by believing too much." -

- P.T. Barnum, American showman (1810-1891).

----------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------

Today is Thursday, April 29th.

The 120th day of 2004.

There are 246 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 29, 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the Dachau concentration camp; that same day, Adolf Hitler married Eva Braun and designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1289, Qala'un, the Sultan of Egypt, captured Tripoli.



In 1429, Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a victory over the English.



In 1707, English/Scottish parliament accept Act of Union, form Great Britain



In 1852, First edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus published.



In 1861, Maryland's House of Delegates voted against seceding from the Union.



In 1862, New Orleans fell to Union forces during the Civil War.



In 1863, Publisher, Editor, Journalist William Randolph Hearst was born in San Francisco, CA. He was a twin. He died August 14, 1951 in Beverly Hills, CA at the age of 88.



In 1885, Women were admitted for the first time to examinations at England's Oxford University.



In 1899, Jazz Musician, Jazz Pianist, Bandleader, Composer, Arranger Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born in Washington, DC. He died May 24, 1974 at the age of75.



In 1909, TV/Movie/Stage Actor Tom Ewell (S. Yewell Tompkins) was born in Owensboro, KY. He died September 12, 1994 at the age of 85.



In 1916, The Easter Rising in Dublin collapsed as Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities.



In 1928, Turkey announced a 15-year plan to change its language from Arabic to English.



In 1939, The Whitestone bridge connecting the Bronx & Queens opened.



In 1946, 28 former Japanese leaders were indicted as war criminals.



In 1957, The first military nuclear power plant was dedicated in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.



In 1960, Dick Clark told the U.S. House of Representatives that he had never taken payola for the records he featured on his show "American Bandstand."



In 1961, ABC's "Wide World of Sports", debuts



In 1971, Salyut 1, the world's First space station, was launched into earth orbit



In 1974, President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.



In 1975, The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon.



In 1979, The final episode of "Battlestar Galactica" was aired on ABC.



In 1980, British-born director Alfred Hitchcock, best known for psychological suspense films such as Psycho, dies at 80.



In 1983, Harold Washington was sworn in as the first black mayor of Chicago.



In 1984, Britain announces that its administration of Hong Kong will cease in 1997, when it will return the colony to China.



In 1986, The Soviet Union appealed to the West for help in fighting a reactor fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that had sent a radioactive cloud across northeastern Europe.



In 1990, Wrecking cranes began tearing down the section of the Berlin Wall surrounding the Brandenburg Gate, the wall's most famous section.



In 1992, Deadly rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, Calif., acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King.



In 1996, Former CIA Director William Colby was presumed drowned by authorities in Maryland after an apparent boating accident; his body was later recovered.



In 1997, A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons went into effect.



In 1998, The United States, Canada, and Mexico agreed to eliminate tariffs on items accounting for $1 billion in trade at a meeting in Paris of the North American Free Trade Agreement.



In 2000, Tens of thousands of angry Cuban-Americans marched peacefully through Miami's Little Havana, protesting the raid in which armed federal agents yanked six-year-old Elian Gonzalez from the home of relatives.



Ten years ago (1994):



Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the terror of ethnic massacres in Rwanda were pouring into Tanzania.



Israel and the PLO signed an agreement in Paris granting Palestinians broad authority to set taxes, control trade and regulate banks under self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.



Five years ago (1999):



Yugoslavia filed World Court cases against 10 alliance members, including the United States, claiming their bombing campaign breached international law.



The Reverend Jesse Jackson arrived in Belgrade on a mission to win freedom for three American POWs held by Yugoslavia.



One year ago (2003):



The Palestinian parliament approved Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister, clearing the final obstacle to the launch of a U.S.-backed "road map" to peace.



Pakistani authorities captured Waleed bin Attash, accused of playing a leading role in the Sept. 11 attacks.



Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud) filed a lawsuit against Best Buy Co. Inc., that claimed the store did not have permission to sue his likeness in a print ad.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actress Celeste Holm is 85.



Rhythm and blues singer Carl Gardner (The Coasters) is 76.



Poet Rod McKuen is 71.



Actor Keith Baxter is 71.



Bluesman Otis Rush is 70.



Conductor Zubin Mehta is 68.



Actor Lane Smith is 68.



Country singer Duane Allen (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 61.



Singer Tommy James is 57.



Movie director Phillip Noyce is 54.



Country musician Wayne Secrest (Confederate Railroad) is 54.



Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is 50.



Actress Kate Mulgrew is 49.



Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is 47.



Actress Michelle Pfeiffer is 46.



Actress Eve Plumb is 46.



Rock musician Phil King is 44.



Country singer Stephanie Bentley is 41.



Singer Carnie Wilson (Wilson Phillips) is 36.



Actress Uma Thurman is 34.



Tennis player Andre Agassi is 34.



Rapper Master P is 34.



Country singer James Bonamy is 32.



Rock musician Mike Hogan (The Cranberries) is 31.



Pop singer Jo O'Meara (S Club 7) is 25.



Actor Zane Carney is 19.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"News is history shot on the wing." -

- Gene Fowler, American journalist (1890-1960).

--------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------

Today is Wednesday, April 28th

The 119th day of 2004.

There are 247 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 28, 1789, there was a mutiny on HMS Bounty as the crew of the British ship set Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1686, The first volume of Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathamatic" was published.



In 1758, The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was born in Westmoreland County, Va.



In 1770, Captain James Cook in Endeavor lands at Botany Bay in Australia



In 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.



In 1910, 1st night air flight (Claude Grahame-White, England)



In 1914, 181 die in coal mine collapse at Eccles WV



In 1914, W H Carrier patents air conditioner



In 1916, The British declared martial law throughout Ireland.



In 1919, 1st jump with Army Air Corp (rip-cord type) parachute (Les Irvin)



In 1924, 119 die in Benwood WV coal mine disaster



In 1932, Yellow fever vaccine for humans announced



In 1940, Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000"



In 1942, Coffee rationing begins in the U.S.



In 1944, Exercise "Tiger" ends with 750 US soldiers dead in D-Day rehearsal after their convoy ships were attacked by German torpedo boats



In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.



In 1947, A six-man expedition sailed from Peru aboard a balsa wood raft named the "Kon-Tiki" on a 101-day journey to Polynesia.



In 1952, War with Japan officially ended as a treaty that had been signed by the United States and 47 other nations took effect.



In 1956, Last French troops leave Vietnam



In 1958, Vice President Nixon and his wife, Pat, began a goodwill tour of Latin America that was marred by hostile mobs in Lima, Peru, and Caracas, Venezuela.



In 1967, Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day General William C. Westmoreland told Congress the U.S. "would prevail in Vietnam."



In 1967, Expo 67 opens in Montréal Canada



In 1968, "Hair" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 1750 performances



In 1969, French President Charles de Gaulle resigned his office after voters rejected major government reforms in a referendum.



In 1971, Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. became the first black admiral in the U.S. Navy.



In 1974, A federal jury in New York acquitted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice H. Stans of charges in connection with a secret $200,000 contribution to President Nixon's re-election campaign from financier Robert Vesco.



In 1975, Helicopters evacuated the last American civilians from Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital.



In 1986, The Soviet Union informed the world of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.



In 1987, The U.S. barred Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the country.



In 1988, An Aloha Airlines flight from Hilo to Honolulu turned into a tragedy...and a miracle. 18 feet of the Boeing 737's hull ripped away. A flight attendant was sucked through the hole to her death...her body dropping 24-thousand feet into the Pacific. Scores of passengers and crew were injured. Yet the pilot and co-pilot managed to land the torn-open jet on Maui.



In 1993, The first "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," promoted by the New York-based Ms. Foundation, was held in an attempt to boost the self-esteem of girls by having them visit a parent's place of work.



In 1997, A worldwide treaty to ban chemical weapons took effect. Russia and other countries such as Iraq and North Korea did not sign.



In 2000, Jay Leno received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.



Ten years ago (1994):



Former CIA official Aldrich Ames, who had betrayed U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia, pleaded guilty to espionage and tax evasion, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.



The Navy expelled 24 midshipmen from the U.S Naval Academy in what was said to be the biggest cheating scandal in Annapolis history.



Five years ago (1999):



In a sharp repudiation of President Clinton's policies, the House rejected, on a tie vote of 213-213, a measure expressing support for NATO's five-week-old air campaign against Yugoslavia; the House also voted 249-180 to limit the president's authority to use ground forces in Yugoslavia.



Actor Rory Calhoun died in Burbank, Calif., at age 76.



One year ago (2003):



On Saddam Hussein's 66th birthday, delegates from inside and outside Iraq agreed to hold a nation-building meeting and fashion a temporary, post-Saddam government.



The Soyuz space capsule carrying a U.S.-Russian space crew docked with the international space station.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Author Harper Lee is 78.



Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is 74.



The former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, is 67.



Actress-singer Ann-Margret is 63.



Actress Marcia Strassman is 56.



Actor Paul Guilfoyle ("CSI") is 55.



Actor Bruno Kirby is 55.



"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is 54.



Actress Mary McDonnell is 51.



Rock singer-musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) is 51.



Rapper Too Short is 38.



Actress Simbi Khali is 33.



Actor Chris Young is 33.



Rapper Big Gipp is 31.



Actress Elisabeth Rohm ("Law & Order") is 31.



Actress Penelope Cruz is 30.



Actor Nate Richert is 26.



Actress Jessica Alba is 23.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go." -

- Bernard Malamud, American author (1914-1986).

----------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------

Today is Tuesday, April 27th.

The 118th day of 2004.

There are 248 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 27, 1805, a force led by U.S. Marines captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1509, Pope Julius II excommunicated the Italian state of Venice.



In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.



In 1565, The first Spanish settlement in Phillipines, Cebu City, was founded.



In 1773, The British Parliament passed the Tea Act



In 1813, Americans under Gen. Pike capture York (present-day Toronto), the seat of government in Ontario.



In 1822, The 18th president of the United States, Ulysses Simpson Grant, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.



In 1838, Fire destroys half of Charleston.



In 1850, The American-owned steamship "The Atlantic" began regular trans-Atlantic passenger service. It was the first U.S. vessel to challenge what had been a British monopoly.



In 1859, "Pomona" sinks in North Atlantic drowning all 400 aboard.



In 1861, After Virginia secedes from the United States, West Virginia secedes from Virginia and forms its own state.



In 1861, President Lincoln authorizes the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.



In 1865, The steamer Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tenn., killing more than 1,400 Union prisoners of war.



In 1865, Cornell University was chartered in Ithaca, N.Y.



In 1880, Francis Clarke and M.G. Foster patented the electrical hearing aid



In 1937, The nation's first Social Security checks were distributed.



In 1950, Following the institution of apartheid in 1948, South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, formally segregating the country's racial groups.



In 1953, The U.S. offered $50,000 and political asylum to any Communist pilot who delivered a MIG jet.



In 1965, R. C. Duncan patented the "Pampers" brand disposable diaper.



In 1967, Expo '67 was officially opened in Montreal by Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.



In 1971, The final episode of "Green Acres" aired.



In 1973, During the Watergate scandal, Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned.



In 1975, Saigon was encircled by North Vietnamese troops.



In 1978, Convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months.



In 1982, The trial of John W. Hinckley Jr., who had shot four people, including President Reagan, began in Washington. (The trial ended with Hinckley's acquittal by reason of insanity.)



In 1984, In London, Libyan gunmen left the Libyan Embassy 11 days after killing a policewoman and wounding 10 others.



In 1989, Student protestors took over Tiananmen Square in Beijing.



In 1992, The new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Belgrade by the republic of Serbia and its lone ally, Montenegro.



Ten years ago (1994):



Former President Richard M. Nixon was remembered at an outdoor funeral service attended by all five of his successors at the Nixon presidential library in Yorba Linda, Calif.



Five years ago (1999):



A week after the Columbine High School massacre, President Clinton called for new gun control measures, saying, "People's lives are at stake here."



Jazz trumpeter Al Hirt died in New Orleans at age 76.



One year ago (2003):



The U.S. military arrested the self-anointed mayor of Baghdad, Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi, reflecting U.S. determination to brook no interlopers in its effort to build a consensus for administering Iraq.



Nicanor Duarte wins Paraguay's presidential election.



Kevin Millwood pitched his first career no-hitter to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the San Francisco Giants 1-0.



Screen and stage writer Peter Stone died in New York at age 73.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Jack Klugman is 82.



Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King is 77.



Actress Anouk Aimee is 72.



Announcer Casey Kasem is 72.



Broadcast journalist Phil Jones is 67.



Actress Judy Carne is 65.



Opera singer Judith Blegen is 63.



Rhythm and blues singer Cuba Gooding, Sr. is 60.



Singer Ann Peebles is 57.



Rock singer Kate Pierson (The B-52's) is 56.



Rhythm and blues singer Herbie Murrell (The Stylistics) is 55.



Actor Douglas Sheehan is 55.



Rock musician Ace Frehley (KISS) is 53.



Pop singer Sheena Easton is 45.



Actor James Le Gros is 42.



Rock musician Rob Squires (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 39.



Singer Mica Paris is 35.



Rock singer-musician Travis Meeks (Days of the New) is 25.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging 10 times in his life." -

- Michel de Montaigne, French philosopher (1533-1592).

-----------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------

Today is Monday, April 26th.

The 117th day of 2004.

There are 249 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 26, 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire killed at least 31 people and sent radioactivity into the atmosphere.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1514, Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn.



In 1607, An expedition of English colonists, including Captain John Smith, went ashore at Cape Henry, Va., to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere.



In 1785, American naturalist and artist John James Audubon was born in Haiti.



In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near Bowling Green, Va., and killed.



In 1937, Planes from Nazi Germany raided the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.



In 1945, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France's Vichy government during World War II, was arrested.



In 1961, Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit the first of a record 61 home runs in a single season.



In 1964, The African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.



In 1968, The United States exploded beneath the Nevada desert a one-megaton nuclear device called "Boxcar."



In 1968, Students seize administration building at Ohio State



In 1970, The Broadway musical "Company" opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York.



In 1989, Actress-comedian Lucille Ball died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 77.



Ten years ago (1994):



Voting began in South Africa's first all-race elections.



A Taiwanese jetliner crashed in Nagoya, Japan, killing 264 people.



Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon, who admitted shooting and wounding an abortion provider outside his clinic, was sentenced in Wichita, Kan., to nearly 11 years in prison.



Five years ago (1999):



The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Cornelio Sommaruga, met with three U.S. soldiers held captive by Yugoslavia.



BBC anchorwoman Jill Dando, the host of a crime-fighting program, was fatally shot on the steps of her London home. (Barry George was convicted in July 2001 of killing Dando.)



One year ago (2003):



A Soyuz rocket carrying American astronaut Edward Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko blasted off for the international space station.



Charlton Heston, diagnosed with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, made his last appearance as president of the National Rifle Association during a convention in Orlando, Fla., where he briefly thanked the membership.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actress-comedian Carol Burnett is 71.



Rhythm and blues singer Maurice Williams is 66.



Songwriter-musician Duane Eddy is 66.



Singer Bobby Rydell is 62.



Actress Claudine Auger is 62.



Rock musician Gary Wright is 61.



Actor Giancarlo Esposito is 46.



Rock musician Roger Taylor (Duran Duran) is 44.



Actress Joan Chen is 43.



Rock musician Chris Mars is 43.



Actor-singer Michael Damian is 42.



Actor Jet Li is 41.



Rock musician Jimmy Stafford (Train) is 40.



Actor-comedian Kevin James is 39.



Actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste is 37.



Country musician Joe Caverlee (Yankee Grey) is 36.



Rapper T-Boz (TLC) is 34.



Country musician Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flats) is 33.



Country musician Michael Jeffers (Pinmonkey) is 32.



Rock musician Jose Pasillas (Incubus) is 28.



Actor Tom Welling is 27.



Actress Jordana Brewster is 24.



Actress Marnette Patterson is 24.



Actor Aaron Weeks is 18.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called." -

- John Stuart Mill, English political philosopher (1806-1873).

---------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

Today is Sunday, April 25th.

The 116th day of 2004.

There are 250 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 25, 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1507, Geographer Martin Waldseemuller first uses the name America to indicate the New World, falsely giving discovery credit to Amerigo Vespucci.



In 1684, A patent is granted for the thimble.



In 1831, The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.



In 1859, Ground was broken for the Suez Canal.



In 1867, Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.



In 1874, Italian electrical engineer and Nobel laureate Guglielmo Marchese Marconi (inventor of wireless communications) was born in Bologna, Italy. He died in 1937.



In 1898, The United States formally declared war on Spain.



In 1901, New York became the first state to require automobile license plates; the fee was $1.



In 1928, Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for the blind



In 1940, W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presented the first circus on TV.



In 1945, During World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses.



In 1945, Last Boeing B-17 attack against Nazi Germany.



In 1945, Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.



In 1950, Basketball player Chuck Cooper becomes the first African-American in the NBA when he is drafted by the Boston Celtics.



In 1953, Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggested the double helix structure of DNA.



In 1957, WUHY TV channel 35 in Philadelphia PA (PBS) begins broadcasting



In 1959, The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.



In 1960, The US submarine Triton completed the first fully submerged trip around the globe.



In 1961, Robert Noyce was granted a patent for the integrated circuit, the basis for electronics and computers.



In 1971, About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington.



In 1974, NFL moves the goal posts & adopts sudden-death playoff.



In 1978, Supreme Court rules pension plans can't require women to pay more.



In 1980, A U.S. commando mission to rescue 53 American embassy hostages in Iran was abandoned in the desert with the loss of eight American lives when a helicopter collided with a tanker aircraft.



In 1983, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.



In 1983, The "Pioneer Ten" spacecraft crossed Pluto's orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.



In 1983, ABC's "Nightline" expands from ½ hour to a full hour.



In 1990, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro was inaugurated as president of Nicaragua, ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule.



In 1990, The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle Discovery.



In 1991, the United States announced its first financial aid to Hanoi since the 1960s: $1 million to make artificial limbs for Vietnamese disabled during the war.



In 1992, The final episode of "Growing Pains" aired on ABC.



In 1992, The final episode of "Who's the Boss?" aired on ABC.



In 1992, Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.



Ten years ago (1994):



Terrorist bombers struck twice on the eve of South Africa's first all-race election, killing about a dozen people.



Conservative Tsutomu Hata became prime minister of Japan, succeeding Morihiro Hosokawa.



Five years ago (1999):



On the third and final day of their Washington summit, NATO leaders promised military protection and economic aid to Yugoslavia's neighbors for standing with the West against Slobodan Milosevic.



More than 70,000 mourners gathered in Littleton, Colo., to remember the victims of the Columbine High School massacre.



Lord Killanin, former president of the International Olympic Committee, died in Dublin, Ireland, at age 84.



One year ago (2003):



The Pentagon announced that Army Secretary Thomas White, whose tenure as civilian chief of the military's largest service was marked by tensions with his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was leaving office.



Georgia lawmakers voted to scrap the Dixie cross from the state's flag.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Country musician Vassar Clements is 76.



Movie director-writer Paul Mazursky is 74.



NBA'er Meadowlark Lemon is 72.



Songwriter Jerry Leiber is 71.



Actor Alfred "Al" Pacino is 64.



Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 59.



Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 59.



Actress Talia Rose Shire is 58.



Actor Jeffrey DeMunn is 57.



Rock musician Michael Brown (The Left Banke) is 55.



Rock musician Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 54.



Country singer-songwriter Rob Crosby is 50.



Actor Hank Azaria is 40.



Rock singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 40.



Rock musician Eric Avery (Jane's Addiction) is 39.



TV personality Jane Clayson is 37.



Actress Renee Zellweger is 35.



Actor Jason Lee is 34.



Actor Jason Wiles is 34.



Actress Emily Bergl is 29.



Singer Jacob Underwood (O Town) is 24.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Prophecy is the wit of a fool." -

- Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born author (1899-1977).

------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------

Today is Saturday, April 24th.

The 115th day of 2004.

There are 251 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 24, 1800, Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1792, The national anthem of France, "La Marseillaise," was composed by Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.



In 1805, The U.S. Marines attacked and captured the town of Derna in Tripoli.



In 1833, Jacob Ebert of Cadiz, OH, along with George Dulty of Wheeling, WV, got together to patent something that became pure Americana. The two invented the soda fountain on this day.



In 1877, Federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North's post-Civil War rule in the South.



In 1886, Oil was discovered in the Middle East. The first well to come in was on the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea.



In 1888, Eastman Kodak formed.



In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.



In 1915, The Ottoman Turkish Empire began the brutal mass deportation of Armenians during World War I.



In 1916, Some 1,600 Irish nationalists launched the Easter Rising (Rebellion) by seizing several key sites in Dublin. (The rising was put down by British forces several days later.)



In 1928, The fathometer was patented; it measures underwater depths by using sound.



In 1944, In deciding the legal case "United States v. Ballard," the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the general principle that "the truth of religious claims is not for secular authority to determine."



In 1948, The "Berlin airlift" began to relieve the surrounded city.



In 1950 "Peter Pan" opened at Imperial Theater NYC for 320 performances



In 1950, The West Bank was annexed by Transjordan.



In 1950, Egypt established control of Gaza.



In 1953, British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.



In 1961, President Kennedy accepted "sole responsibility" for the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.



In 1962, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Calif., and Westford, Mass.



In 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is the first person to die during a space mission when the Soyuz I craft crashes to earth.



In 1968, Leftist students at Columbia University in New York began a week-long occupation of several campus buildings.



In 1970, The People's Republic of China launched its first satellite, which kept transmitting a song, "The East is Red."



In 1974, Actor/comedian William "Bud" Abbott ("Abbott and Costello") died at the age of 78. He was born October 2, 1895 in Asbury Park, NJ.



In 1980, The United States launched an abortive attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.



In 1981, The IBM Personal Computer was introduced.



In 1990, West and East Germany agree to merge their currency and economies in July. Full political reunification occurs in October.



In 1990, The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.



In 1997, The U.S. Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. The global treaty banned the development, production, storage and use of chemical weapons



In 2000, A youth opened fire on a crowd of people in the National Zoo in Washington, wounding seven children, one seriously.



Ten years ago (1994):



Bosnian Serbs, threatened with NATO air strikes, grudgingly gave up their three-week assault on Gorazde, burning houses and blowing up a water treatment plant as they withdrew.



Five years ago (1999):



On the second day of a NATO summit, the alliance ran into objections from Russia and questions among its own members about enforcing an oil embargo against Yugoslavia by searching ships at sea. President Clinton urged Americans to be patient with the bombing strategy in the meantime.



One year ago (2003):



U.S. forces in Iraq took custody of Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister.



China shut down a Beijing hospital as the global death toll from SARS surpassed 260.



A U.S. official reported that North Korea had claimed to have nuclear weapons.



In Red Lion, Pa., a 14-year-old boy shot and killed his school principal inside a crowded junior high cafeteria, then killed himself.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Critic Stanley Kauffmann is 88.



Actor J.D. Cannon is 82.



Actress Shirley MacLaine (Beaty) is 70.



Author Sue Grafton is 64.



Actress-singer-director Barbra Joan Streisand is 62.



Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 62.



Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 61.



Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 59.



Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 51.



Actor Michael O'Keefe is 49.



Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 47.



Rock musician Billy Gould is 41.



Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 40.



Actor Djimon Hounsou is 40.



Rock musician Patty Schemel is 37.



Rock musician Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors) is 36.



Actor Derek Luke is 30.



Country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard is 25.



Singer Kelly Clarkson ("American Idol") is 22.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"I know of no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution." -

- Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. President (1822-1885).

------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------

Today is Friday, April 23rd.

The 114th day of 2004.

There are 252 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



April 23, 1564, is believed to be the birthdate of English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare; he died 52 years later (1616), also on April 23.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1348, King Edward III of England established the Order of the Garter.



In 1635, A boundary dispute between Maryland and Virginia causes a naval skirmish off the coast of Virginia.



In 1662, Connecticut was chartered as an English colony.



In 1789, President-elect Washington and his wife moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York.



In 1791, The 15th president of the United States, James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pa.



In 1851, The first postage stamps were issued in Canada.



In 1904, The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded.



In 1939, Boston Red Sox Ted Williams hits his 1st homerun



In 1940, About 200 people died in a dance hall fire in Natchez, Miss.



In 1948, KSTP TV channel 5 in St Paul-Minneapolis MN (ABC) 1st broadcast



In 1954, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home runs, in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. (The Braves won, 7-5.)



In 1956, The U.S. Supreme Court ended race segregation on buses.



In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. (The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.)



In 1985, The Coca-Cola Company announced it was changing the secret flavor formula for Coke (negative public reaction forced the company to resume selling the original version).



In 1992, McDonald's opened its first fast-food restaurant in the Chinese capital of Beijing.



In 1993, Labor leader Cesar Chavez died in San Luis, Ariz., at age 66.



In 1997, The military confirmed that two pieces of wreckage found on a snowy Rocky Mountain peak were from the Air Force warplane that vanished on a training mission over Arizona.



In 1998, James Earl Ray, who'd confessed to assassinating the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and then insisted he'd been framed, died at a Nashville hospital at age 70.



Ten years ago (1994):



Mourners left red roses, burning candles and cards at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif., in memory of the 37th president of the United States, who had died the day before at age 81.



Physicists at the Department of Energy's Fermin National Accelerator Laboratory discovered the subatomic particle called the top quark.



Five years ago (1999):



On the first day of a 50th anniversary NATO summit in Washington, Western leaders pledged to intensify military strikes against Yugoslavia and vowed "no compromise" on demands that Slobodan Milosevic withdraw his troops from Kosovo.



One year ago (2003):



Global health officials warned travelers to avoid Beijing and Toronto, where they might get the SARS virus and export it to new locations.



U.S. negotiators met with North Korean and Chinese representatives in Beijing for the first three-way meeting by the governments since the Korean War.



American Airlines reported a $1-billion first-quarter loss.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actress Janet Blair is 83.



Actress-turned-diplomat Shirley Temple Black is 76.



Actor Alan Oppenheimer is 74.



Actor David Birney is 65.



Actor Lee Majors (Harvey Lee Yeary II) is 65.



Actress Sandra Dee is 62.



Irish nationalist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey is 57.



Actress Blair Brown is 56.



Writer-director Paul Brickman is 55.



Actress Joyce DeWitt is 55.



Actor James Russo is 51.



Political filmmaker-author Michael Moore is 50.



Actress Judy Davis is 49.



Actress Jan Hooks is 47.



Actress Valerie Bertinelli is 44.



Actor Craig Sheffer is 44.



Actor George Lopez ("George Lopez") is 43.



Rock musician Gen is 40.



U.S. Olympic gold medal skier Donna Weinbrecht is 39.



Actress Melina Kanakaredes is 37.



Rock musician Stan Frazier (Sugar Ray) is 36.



Country musician Tim Womack (Sons of the Desert) is 36.



Actor Scott Bairstow is 34.



Actress Rachel Skarsten is 19.



Actor Camryn Walling is 14.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"...We are such stuff/ As dreams are made on, and our little life/ Is rounded with a sleep." -

- From "The Tempest," by William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

--------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------

Today is Thursday, April 22nd.

The 113th day of 2004.

There are 253 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



Fifty years ago, on April 22, 1954, the televised Senate Army-McCarthy hearings began.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 1370, Construction of the Bastile began. The French king Charles the Fifth wanted it erected as a defense against the British.



In 1451, Queen Isabella I, who sponsored the voyages of Christopher Columbus, was born in Madrigal, Spain.



In 1509, Henry VIII ascended the throne of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.



In 1500, Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovered Brazil & claims it for Portugal.



In 1529, Spain and Portugal divide the western hemisphere in Treaty of Saragossa.



In 1823, Roller Skates were patented by R.J. Tyers.



In 1864, Congress authorized the use of the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins.



In 1870, The father of Soviet communism, Vladimir Ilyitch Ulyanov (aka Nikolai Lenin) was born. He died in Moscow of a stroke on January 21, 1924 at the age of 53.



In 1876, 1st National League game, Boston Braves beat Philadelphia Athletics 6-5; Philadelphia Athletics Wes Fisler scores baseball's 1st run.



In 1889, The Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims.



In 1892, The Winstar Institute, the first anatomy school in the U.S., opens.



In 1898, With the United States and Spain on the verge of formally declaring war, the U.S. Navy began blockading Cuban ports. The USS Nashville captured a Spanish merchant ship, the Buenaventura, off Key West, Fla. Also, Congress authorized creation of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, popularly known as the "Rough Riders."



In 1904, The father of the atomic bomb, J. (Julius) Robert Oppenheimer was born. He died on February 18, 1967 at the age of 62.



In 1914, Babe Ruth made his pitching debut with the Baltimore Orioles.



In 1915, The second battle of Ypres started when German troops released clouds of deadly chlorine gas on British troops; it was the first chemical warfare attack of World War One.



In 1915, New York Yankees don pinstripes & hat-in-the-ring logo for 1st time



In 1940, Rear Adm Joseph Taussig testified before the U.S. Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable



In 1944, During World War II, U.S. forces began invading Japanese-held New Guinea with amphibious landings near Hollandia.



In 1945, Adolf Hitler admitted that the war was lost and that suicide was his only recourse.



In 1952, An atomic test conducted in Nevada became the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television.



In 1964, President Johnson opened the New York World's Fair.



In 1970, Millions of Americans concerned about the environment observed the first Earth Day.



In 1976, Barbara Walters signs a record $1 million contract with ABC and becomes the first female nightly news anchor in the United States.



In 1978, 'The Blues Brothers' (Dan Akroyd and John Belushi) make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live



In 1978, The final episode of "Maude" aired.



In 1983, The West German news magazine Stern announced the discovery of 60 volumes of personal diaries purportedly written by Adolf Hitler. However, the diaries turned out to be a hoax.



In 1991, Johnny Carson announces he will retire next year from Tonight Show



In 1993, The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was dedicated in Washington D.C. to honor the victims of Nazi extermination.



In 2000, In a dramatic pre-dawn raid, armed immigration agents seized Elian Gonzalez from his relatives' home in Miami; Elian was reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.



Ten years ago (1994):



Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, died at a New York hospital four days after suffering a stroke. He was 81.



Five years ago (1999):



At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., investigators found a powerful bomb made from a propane tank, heightening suspicions that gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 13 people before killing themselves, intended to destroy the school.



NATO struck directly against Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, destroying his luxurious mansion.



One year ago (2003):



President Bush announced he would nominate Alan Greenspan for a fifth term as Federal Reserve chairman.



Songwriter Felice Bryant, who, with her late husband, Boudleaux, wrote "Bye Bye Love" and other Everly Brothers hits, died in Gatlinburg, Tenn., at age 77.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Actor Eddie Albert is 96.



TV producer Aaron Spelling is 81.



Actor George Cole is 79.



Actress Charlotte Rae is 78.



Actress Estelle Harris ("Seinfeld") is 72.



Singer Glen Campbell is 68.



Actor Jack Nicholson is 67.



Singer Mel Carter is 61.



Country singer Cleve Francis is 59.



Movie director John Waters is 58.



Singer Peter Frampton is 54.



Rock singer-musician Paul Carrack (Mike and the Mechanics; Squeeze) is 53.



Actor Joseph Bottoms is 50.



Actress Marilyn Chambers is 50.



Actor Ryan Stiles is 45.



Actress Catherine Mary Stewart is 45.



Comedian Byron Allen is 43.



Actor Chris Makepeace is 40.



Actress Sheryl Lee is 37.



Country singer-musician Heath Wright (Ricochet) is 37.



Country singer Kellie Coffey is 33.



Actor Ingo Rademacher is 33.



Rock singer-musician Daniel Johns (Silverchair) is 25.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself." -

- Richard M. Nixon, 37th president of the United States (1913-1994).

-------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------

Today is Wednesday, April 21st.

The 112th day of 2004.

There are 254 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



On April 21, 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, CT.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 753 BCE, According to legend, twin brothers Romulus and Remus, sons of the god Mars, found the ancient city of Rome.



In 1649, The Maryland Toleration Act, which provided for freedom of worship for all Christians, was passed by the Maryland assembly.



In 1789, John Adams was sworn in as the first vice president of the United States.



In 1828, Noah Webster published the first American dictionary.



In 1836, An army of Texans led by Sam Houston defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto, assuring the independence of Texas. Sam yelled "Remember the Alamo". The whole war battle took only 18 minutes, but it claimed 600 Mexicans and only 9 Texans.



In 1857, Alexander Douglas patented the bustle



In 1862, Congress established the U.S. Mint in Denver, Colorado.



In 1878, The first firehouse pole was installed in N.Y.



In 1913, Gideon Sundback of Sweden patents the zipper



In 1914, US marines occupy Vera Cruz, Mexico, and stayed 6 months.



In 1918, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the German flying ace known as the "Red Baron," was shot down and killed in action during World War I after dowining 80 enemy planes.



In 1940, The quiz show that asked the $64-question, "Take It or Leave It," premiered on CBS Radio.



In 1945, Soviet forces assaulted the headquarters of the German High Command in south Berlin.



In 1948, 1st Polaroid camera is sold in US



In 1954, U.S. Air Force planes began flying French troops to Indochina to reinforce Dien Bien Phu. The city later fell to communist Viet Minh forces.



In 1960, Brazil inaugurated its new capital, Brasilia, transferring the seat of national government from Rio de Janeiro.



In 1967, Svetlana Alliluyeva (Josef Stalin's daughter) defects in NYC.



In 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon.



In 1975, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigned after 10 years in office.



In 1977, The musical play "Annie" opened on Broadway.



In 1982, The final episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" aired on CBS.



In 1986, Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV & finds nothing



In 1989, Tens of thousands of people crowded into Beijing's Tiananmen Square, cheering students who waved banners demanding greater political freedoms.



In 1992, Robert Alton Harris became the first person executed by the state of California in 25 years as he was put to death in the gas chamber for the 1978 murder of two teenage boys.



In 1993, The first episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" aired on CBS.



In 1995, The FBI arrested former soldier Timothy McVeigh at an Oklahoma jail where he'd spent two days on minor traffic and weapons charges; he was charged in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing two days earlier.



In 1997, The swollen Red River, which had flooded 75 percent of Grand Forks, N.D., reached a projected crest of 54 feet -- or 26 feet above flood stage.



In 1997, Ashes of Timothy Leary & Gene Roddenberry launched into orbit



Ten years ago (1994):



The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $28 billion get-tough-on-crime bill by a vote of 285-141.



Five years ago (1999):



A day after the mass killing at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., investigators continued their work, while memorial services were held across the city and dozens of counselors offered support to grieving students, parents, friends and family.



Actor and bandleader Charles "Buddy" Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 94.



The 200th episode of "L.A. Law" aired.



One year ago (2003):



Military officials in Iraq announced the arrest of Muhammad Hamza al-Zubaydi, a key figure in the bloody suppression of the Shiite Muslim uprising of 1991.



State-run media in China reported the government had dismissed Beijing's mayor following the disclosure of a steep increase in SARS cases in the Chinese capital.



Scott Peterson pleaded innocent in the deaths of his pregnant wife and unborn son.



Robert Cheruiyot became the 12th Kenyan in 13 years to win the Boston Marathon; Svetlana Zakharova of Russia won the women's race.



Jazz singer Nina Simone died in France at age 70.



In Iraq, retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Jay Garner arrived in Baghdad as Iraq's postwar administrator.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays



Ice skater Werner Groebli ("Mr. Frick") is 89.



Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is 78.



Actress-comedian-writer Elaine May is 72.



Actor-turned-talk show host Charles Grodin is 69.



Singer-musician Iggy Pop is 57.



Singer-songwriter Paul Davis is 56.



Actress Patti LuPone is 55.



Actor Tony Danza is 53.



Actress Andie MacDowell is 46.



Rock singer Robert Smith (The Cure) is 45.



Rock musician Michael Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 45.



Actor John Cameron Mitchell is 41.



Rapper Michael Franti (Spearhead) is 36.



Comedian Nicole Sullivan is 34.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -

- Mark Twain (1835-1910).

---------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------

Today is Tuesday, April 20th.

The 111th day of 2004.

There are 255 days left in the year.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Highlight in History:



Five years ago, on April 20, 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Littleton, Colo., as students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



On this date:



In 735, B.C.E., According to the Roman historian Varro, Romulus founded the city of Rome.



In 1812, The fourth vice president of the United States, George Clinton, died in Washington at age 73, becoming the first vice president to die while in office.



In 1836, The Territory of Wisconsin was established by Congress.



In 1841, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe, considered the first detective story, was published in Graham's Magazine in Philadelphia.



In 1859, "A Tale Of Two Cities" was first published by Charles Dickens.



In 1889, Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria.



In 1902, Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.



In 1940, RCA publicly demonstrated its new and powerful electron microscope.



In 1945, During World War II, Allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.



In 1967, US planes bomb Haiphong for 1st time during the Vietnam War



In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.



In 1971, The Supreme Court upheld the use of busing to achieve racial desegregation in schools.



In 1972, The manned lunar module from Apollo 16 landed on the moon.



In 1973, L. Patrick Gray, acting director of the FBI, resigns after admitting he destroyed evidence connected to Watergate.



In 1978, A Korean Air Lines Boeing 707 crash-landed in northwestern Russia after being fired on by a Soviet interceptor after entering Soviet airspace. Two passengers were killed.



In 1980, The first Cubans sailing to the United States as part of the massive Mariel boatlift reached Florida.



In 1987, The U.S. deports Karl Linnas to the Soviet Union to face death for Nazi war crimes.



Ten years ago (1994):



Israeli and PLO negotiators wrapped up an agreement transferring civilian government powers to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.



One year ago (1999):



U.S. Army forces took control of Baghdad from the Marines in a changing of the guard that thinned the military presence in the capital.



Celebrating Easter, the Reverend Emmanuel Delly, a longtime Iraqi bishop, pleaded for safeguards against the persecution of Christians in the new Iraq.



A landslide in southern Kyrgyzstan killed 38 people.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Today's Birthdays:



Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is 84.



Actress Nina Foch is 80.



Singer Johnny Tillotson is 65.



Actor George Takei is 64.



Actor Ryan O'Neal is 63.



Rock musician Craig Frost (Grand Funk; Bob Seger's Silver Bullet Band) is 56.



Actress Jessica Lange is 55.



Singer Luther Vandross is 53.



Actor Clint Howard is 45.



Actor Crispin Glover is 40.



Country singer Wade Hayes is 35.



Actor Shemar Moore is 34.



Rock musician Mikey Welsh is 33.



Actress Carmen Electra is 32.



Actor Joseph Lawrence is 28.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Thought for Today:

"The law that will work is merely the summing up in legislative form of the moral judgment that the community has already reached." -

- Woodrow Wilson, American president (1856-1924).

---------------------------------------------