Today is Thursday, May 3, the 123rd day of 2018 with 242 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli in 1469; journalist Jacob August Riis in 1849; French perfume-maker Francois Coty in 1874; Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in 1898; singer/actor Bing Crosby in 1903; actor Mary Astor in 1906; playwright William Inge in 1913; folk singer Pete Seeger in 1919; boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, born Walker Smith Jr., in 1921; actor Ann B. Davis in 1926; singer James Brown in 1933; singer Frankie Valli in 1934 (age 84); TV personality Greg Gumbel in 1946 (age 72); magician Doug Henning in 1947; singer/songwriter Christopher Cross in 1951 (age 67); actor Christina Hendricks in 1975 (age 43); actor Dule Hill in 1975 (age 43); country singer Eric Church in 1977 (age 41); dancer/TV personality Cheryl Burke in 1984 (age 34).
On this date in history:
In 1802, Washington, D.C., was incorporated.
In 1913, the California Alien Land Law of 1913 (Webb-Haney Act) passed the California state Senate, ignoring the demands of Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan. The bill forbid immigrants, not eligible of citizenship, from owning any land for agricultural or gardening purposes.
In 1915, following a three-month tour of Europe, Roy W. Howard, president of the United Press, stated that he believed that the Great War had devolved into an “endurance contest of indeterminable length.”
In 1937, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
In 1948, the CBS Evening News premiered, with Douglas Edwards as anchor.
In 1952, a ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lt. Col. Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and Lt. Col. William P. Benedict of California became the first aircraft to land at the North Pole.
In 1963, members of the Birmingham, Ala., police and fire departments released fire hoses and dogs against a group of African Americans marching for freedom.
In 1968, the United States and North Vietnam agreed to hold peace talks in Paris. After multiple delays, the two sides signed the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, for which national security adviser Harry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho won the Nobel Peace Prize. Tho did not accept the award and the Vietnam War would not end until 1975.
In 1979, Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party won the British general election, making her the first woman prime minister of a major European nation. She served three terms.
In 1986, Bill “Willie” Shoemaker became the oldest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby, riding Ferdinand.
In 1992, Exxon International President Sidney Reso died four days after he was kidnapped. His was body was found more than a month later in a shallow grave in New Jersey after kidnappers sought a ransom for the executive.
In 1999, 76 tornadoes tore across the U.S. Plains states, killing about 50 people and injuring hundreds.
In 2003, the noted New Hampshire landmark “Old Man of the Mountain” collapsed.
In 2006, an Armenian A-320 aircraft plunged into the Black Sea off Russia’s southern coast, killing all 113 people aboard. Officials said bad weather was the probable cause.
In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II began her first visit to the United States in 16 years.
In 2007, British toddler Madeleine McCann goes missing after her parents left her and her siblings alone at a Portuguese resort while they dined nearby. The 3-year-old girl was never found.
In 2010, New York City police arrested Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani American who had boarded a plane scheduled to fly to Dubai after an attempted Times Square bombing. He later pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to life in prison.
In 2013, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ordered border agents to verify the validity of visas for all foreign students entering the country.
In 2015, two gunmen opened fire outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas. Both men were shot and killed.
In 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election. Donald Trump went on to win the nomination and the presidency.
A thought for the day: “Fifty percent of people won’t vote and 50 percent don’t read newspapers. I hope it’s the same 50 percent.” — Gore Vidal
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