THURSDAY IN HISTORY

May 5, 1879: Neva Bligh of Wampsville took charge of the school at Oneida Lake (Messinger’s Bay).

May 5, 1908: The Oneida Board of Public Works adopted plans for a new bridge over the Cowaselon Creek on the Canal Road.

May 5, 1964: Mildred Bramley was elected to the Oneida Board of Education.

By The Associated Press

Today is Thursday, May 5, the 126th day of 2016. There are 240 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On May 5, 1866, the town of Waterloo, N.Y., observed a day honoring the fallen soldiers of the Civil War.

On this date:

In 1862, Mexican troops defeated French occupying forces in the Battle of Puebla.

In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution.

In 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.

In 1955, West Germany became a fully sovereign state.

In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom7.

In 1994, Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Bill Clinton.

Ten years ago: A military transport helicopter crashed in eastern Afghanistan, killing all ten U.S. soldiers on board.

Five years ago: Solemnly honoring victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, President Barack Obama hugged survivors at ground zero in New York and declared that the killing of Osama bin Laden was an American message to the world.

One year ago: Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced trip to Somalia in a show of solidarity with a government trying to defeat al-Qaida-allied militants and end decades of war in the African country.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Pat Carroll is 89. Comedianactor Michael Palin is 73. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 72. Rock correspondent Kurt Lo der is 71. NBC newsman Brian Williams is 57. Actor Henry Cavill is 33. Soul singer Adele is 28.

Thought for Today: “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.” — Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, “father” of America’s nuclear navy (1900-1986).