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UPI Almanac for Monday, May 4, 2015

First Grammy Awards, Kent State shootings, new president in Panama … on this date in history.

By United Press International
Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett appear backstage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Feb.8, 2015, with the Grammy Awards they won for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, "Cheek To Cheek." The Grammys have been presented annually since the first awards on May 4, 1959. File Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI
1 of 10 | Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett appear backstage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Feb.8, 2015, with the Grammy Awards they won for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, "Cheek To Cheek." The Grammys have been presented annually since the first awards on May 4, 1959. File Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI | License Photo

Today is Monday, May 4, the 124th day of 2015 with 241 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Neptune, Uranus and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Venus.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include educator Horace Mann in 1796; English biologist/agnostic Thomas Huxley in 1825; American landscape painter Frederic Church in 1826; New York Roman Catholic Cardinal Francis Spellman in 1889; former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 1928 (age 87); musician Maynard Ferguson in 1928; actor Audrey Hepburn in 1929; opera singer Roberta Peters in 1930 (age 85); Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the singing Jackson family, in 1930 (age 85); guitarist Dick Dale in 1937 (age 78); novelist Robin Cook in 1940 (age 75); political commentator George Will in 1941 (age 74); singer Nickolas Ashford in 1941; Sigmund "Jackie" Jackson, member of the Jackson 5, in 1951 (age 64); singer Oleta Adams in 1953 (age 62); actor Pia Zadora in 1954 (age 61); country singer Randy Travis in 1959 (age 56); actor Ana Gasteyer in 1967 (age 48); actor Will Arnett in 1970 (age 45); sports reporter Erin Andrews in 1978 (age 37); pop singer Lance Bass in 1979 (age 36); professional golfer Rory McIlroy in 1989 (age 26).

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On this date in history:

In 1494, on his second expedition to the New World, Columbus discovered Jamaica.

In 1886, four police officers were killed when a bomb was thrown during a meeting of anarchists in Chicago's Haymarket Square protesting labor unrest. (Four leaders of the demonstration, which became known as the Haymarket Square Riot, were convicted and hanged.)

In 1904, construction began on the Panama Canal.

In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea began. (It was a turning point for the Allies in World War II, with Japan losing 39 ships and the United States one.)

In 1953, "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

In 1959, the first Grammy Awards were presented. "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" by Domenico Modugno won the awards for Record and Song of the Year.

In 1970, National Guardsmen killed four students at Kent State University in Ohio during a demonstration against the Vietnam War. (The shootings set off a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of schools to temporarily close.)

In 1980, President Joseph Broz Tito of Yugoslavia died at age 87.

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In 1982, an Argentine jet fighter sank the British destroyer HMS Sheffield during the Falkland Islands war.

In 2000, the "I Love You" virus crashed computers around the world.

In 2006, confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The 37-year-old Moroccan implicated himself in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

In 2009, fighting between feuding families broke out at a wedding in southeast Turkey, with combatants using guns and grenades, leading to the deaths of 44 people, including the bride and groom.

In 2011, rival Palestinian political factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation accord, citing as common causes opposition to the Israeli occupation and disillusionment with U.S. peace efforts.

In 2013, a limousine carrying 10 people caught fire on a bridge over San Francisco Bay. Five women were killed.

In 2014, Juan Carlos Varela was elected president of Panama.


A thought for the day: Michel de Montaigne said, "There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees."

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