Today is Friday, April 1, the 91st day of 2005. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool’s Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 1, 1945, American forces invaded Okinawa during World War II.
On this date:
In 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio, became the first U.S. city to pay its firefighters a regular salary.
In 1918, the Royal Air Force was established in Britain.
In 1933, Nazi Germany began persecuting Jews with a boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.
In 1946, tidal waves struck the Hawaiian islands, resulting in more than 170 deaths.
In 1960, the first weather satellite, TIROS-One, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 1963, most of New York City’s daily newspapers resumed publishing after a settlement was reached in a 114-day strike.
In 1970, President Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television, to take effect after Jan. 1, 1971.
In 1983, tens of thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators linked arms in a 14-mile human chain spanning three defense installations in rural England.
In 1987, in his first major speech on the AIDS epidemic, President Reagan told doctors in Philadelphia, “We’ve declared AIDS public health enemy number one.”
In 2003, American troops entered a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, and rescued Army Pvt. 1st Class Jessica Lynch, who’d been held prisoner since her unit was ambushed on March 23.
Ten years ago: United Nations peacekeepers officially took over from the U.S.-led multinational force in Haiti. With U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry looking on, Ukraine began the process of dismantling its nuclear missiles. More than 1,500 mourners attended a vigil for Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she’d been shot to death the day before.
Five years ago: President Clinton, speaking at a fund-raiser for his wife’s Senate campaign, accused New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of enlisting a “right-wing venom machine” against Hillary Rodham Clinton. Michelle Kwan won her third World Figure Skating title.
One year ago: President Bush signed into law new protections for the unborn that for the first time made it a separate federal crime to harm a fetus during an assault on the mother. Michigan won the NIT championship with a 62-55 victory over Rutgers. Actress Carrie Snodgress died in Los Angeles at age 57.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor George Grizzard is 77. Actress Jane Powell is 77. Actress Grace Lee Whitney is 75. Actress Debbie Reynolds is 73. Country singer Jim Ed Brown is 71. Actor Don Hastings is 71. Blues singer Eddie King is 67. Actress Ali MacGraw is 67. R&B singer Rudolph Isley is 66. Reggae singer Jimmy Cliff is 57. Jazz musician Gil Scott-Heron is 56. Rock musician Billy Currie (Ultravox) is 53. Movie director Barry Sonnenfeld is 52. Country singer Woody Lee is 37. Movie directors Albert and Allen Hughes are 33. Tennis player Magdalena Maleeva is 30. Singer Bijou Phillips is 25. Actor Sam Huntington is 23. Actor Josh Zuckerman is 20.
Thought for Today: “Si mi abuela tuviera ruedas seria una bicicleta.” (If my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bicycle.) — Spanish proverb.