Today In History
Today is Saturday, May 5, the 125th day of 2018. There are 240 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1978: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream had its beginnings as Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened an ice cream parlor at a converted gas station in Burlington, Vermont.
ON THIS DATE
› 1494: During his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.
› 1892: Congress passed the Geary Act, which required Chinese in the United States to carry a certificate of residence at all times, or face deportation.
› 1945: In the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minister and five children. Denmark and the Netherlands were liberated as a German surrender went into effect.
› 1955: West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical “Damn Yankees,” starring Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy, Gwen Verdon as Lola and Ray Walston as Applegate, opened on Broadway.
› 1961: Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actress Pat Carroll is
91. Former AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney is
84. Saxophonist Ace Cannon is 84. Actor Lance Henriksen is 78. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is
75. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 74. Rock correspondent Kurt Loder is
73. Rock musician Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) is
70. Actress Melinda Culea is 63. Actress Lisa Eilbacher is 61. Actor Richard E. Grant is 61. Former broadcast journalist John Miller is 60. Rock singer Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen) is
59. NBC newsman Brian Williams is 59. Rock musician Shawn Drover (Megadeth) is 52. TV personality Kyan Douglas is
48. Actress Tina Yothers is 45. Rhythm and blues singer Raheem DeVaughn is 43. Actor Santiago Cabrera is 40. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 39. Singer Craig David is 37. Actress Danielle Fishel is 37. Actor Clark Duke is 33. Soul singer Adele is 30. Rock singer Skye Sweetnam is 30. Rhythm and blues singer Chris Brown is 29. Figure skater Nathan Chen is 19.