Today In History

Today is Tuesday, May 5, the 126th day of 2020. There are 240 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1961: Aastronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.

ON THIS DATE

› 1494: During his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica.

› 1865: What’s believed to be America’s first train robbery took place as a band of criminals derailed a St. Louis-bound train near North Bend, Ohio; they proceeded to rob the passengers and loot safes on board before getting away.

› 1925: Schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

› 1942: Wartime sugar rationing began in the United States.

› 1985: President Ronald Reagan kept a controversial promise to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl by leading a wreath-laying ceremony at the military cemetery in Bitburg.

› 2009: Texas health officials confirmed the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actress Pat Carroll is 93. Former AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney is 86. Country singer-musician Roni Stoneman is 82. Actor Michael Murphy is 82. Actor Lance Henriksen is 80. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 77. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 76. Rock correspondent Kurt Loder is 75. Rock musician Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) is 72. Actor Richard E. Grant is 63. Former broadcast journalist John Miller is 62. Rock singer Ian McCulloch (Echo and the Bunnymen) is 61. NBC newsman Brian Williams is 61. Rock musician Shawn Drover (Megadeth) is 54. TV personality Kyan Douglas is 50. Actress Tina Yothers is 47. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 45. Actor Santiago Cabrera is 42. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 41. Singer Craig David is 39. Actress Danielle Fishel is 39. Actor Henry Cavill is 37. Rock musician Josh Smith is 37. Actor Clark Duke is 35. Soul singer Adele is 32. Rock singer Skye Sweetnam is 32. R&B singer Chris Brown is 31. Figure skater Nathan Chen is 21.