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Highlight in History
On May 1, 1982, the World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tenn., was opened by President Ronald Reagan. The fair’s theme: “Energy Turns the World.” (The six-month exposition’s last day was October 31.)
On this date
In 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was created as a treaty merging England and Scotland took effect.
In 1786, Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” premiered in Vienna.
In 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,” as an American naval force destroyed a Spanish squadron in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
In 1911, the song “I Want a Girl (Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad),” by Harry Von Tilzer and Will Dillon, was first published.
In 1931, New York’s 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated. Singer Kate Smith made her debut on CBS Radio on her 24th birthday.
In 1941, the Orson Welles motion picture “Citizen Kane” premiered in New York.
In 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
In 1961, the first U.S. airline hijacking took place as Antulio Ramirez Ortiz, a Miami electrician, commandeered a National Airlines plane that was en route to Key West, Fla., and forced the pilot to fly to Cuba.
In 1962, the first Target discount store opened in Roseville, Minn.
In 1971, the intercity passenger rail service Amtrak went into operation.
In 1987, during a visit to West Germany, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
In 1992, on the third day of the Los Angeles riots, a visibly shaken Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, pleading, “Can we all get along?”
Ten years ago
Israeli armored vehicles began leaving Yasser Arafat’s battered West Bank compound, ending his five months of confinement. Well over a million people across France marched against far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, four days before Le Pen was soundly defeated by President Jacques Chirac in a presidential runoff.
Five years ago
In only his second veto, President George W. Bush rejected legislation to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq in a showdown with Congress over whether the war should end or escalate. Thousands of people protested across the country to demand a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants.
One year ago
Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II, moving his predecessor a step closer to sainthood in a Vatican Mass attended by some 1.5 million pilgrims. Marchers around the world demanded more jobs, better working conditions and higher wages on International Workers’ Day.
Top News
Today in History for Tuesday, May 1, 2012
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Official: Broken rail eyed in Conn. train crash
The commuter train derailment and collision that left dozens injured outside New York City was not the result of foul play, officials said Saturday, but a fractured section of rail is being studied to determine if it is connected to the accident.
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FBI searches apartment in ricin letter case
Authorities in hazardous materials suits searched a downtown Spokane apartment Saturday, investigating the recent discovery of a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin.
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Up to 60 injured after car drives into Va. parade
An elderly driver plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Saturday parade in a small Virginia mountain town and investigators were looking into whether he suffered a medical emergency before the accident.
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Authorities: Hofstra student was killed by police
A Hofstra University student being held in a headlock at gunpoint by an intruder was accidently shot and killed by a police officer who had responded to the home invasion at an off-campus home, police said Saturday.
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Last-minute fortune seekers buy Powerball tickets
It’s all about the odds.
With four out of every five possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, someone is almost sure to win the game’s highest jackpot, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars — and that’s after taxes. -
Today in History for Sunday, May 19, 2013
Today is Sunday, May 19, the 139th day of 2013. There are 226 days left in the year.
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Valdosta Brain/Spinal Injury meeting Tuesday
Valdosta Brain/Spinal Injury meeting Tuesday
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Bombs targeting Sunnis kill at least 76 in Iraq
Bombs ripped through Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday, killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months. The major spike in sectarian bloodshed heightened fears the country could again be veering toward civil war.
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Tornado-ravaged Texas town to start recovery
Residents whose homes were torn apart or blown away by a North Texas deadly tornado can soon return to retrieve what belongings may be left and start cleaning up, authorities said Friday.
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Conn. commuter trains collide; 60 go to hospitals
Two commuter trains serving New York City collided in Connecticut during Friday’s evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five with critical injuries, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.
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