Today is Thursday, May 15, the 135th day of 2025 with 230 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Mars.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include writer L. Frank Baum in 1856; chemist Pierre Curie in 1859; U.S. first lady Ellen Wilson in 1860; writer Katherine Anne Porter in 1890; actor Joseph Cotten in 1905; musician Eddy Arnold in 1918; artist Jasper Johns 1930 (age 95); actor Anna Maria Alberghetti in 1936 (age 89); former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in 1937; musician Trini Lopez in 1937; media executive Roger Ailes in 1940; actor/musician Lainie Kazan in 1940 (age 85); musician Brian Eno in 1948 (age 77); actor Chazz Palminteri in 1952 (age 73); Baseball Hall of Fame member George Brett in 1953 (age 72); musician Mike Oldfield in 1953 (age 72); sports broadcaster Dan Patrick in 1956 (age 69); musician Melle Mel (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five) in 1961 (age 64); writer Laura Hillenbrand in 1967 (age 58); Football Hall of Fame member Emmitt Smith in 1969 (age 56); actor Russell Hornsby in 1974 (age 51); actor David Krumholtz in 1978 (age 47); Zara Tindall, equestrian/British royal, in 1981 (age 44); actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler in 1981 (age 44); actor Alexandra Breckenridge in 1982 (age 43); musician Brad Shultz (Cage the Elephant) in 1982 (age 43); tennis legend Andy Murray in 1987 (age 38); musician Haerin (NewJeans) in 2006 (age 19).
On this date in history:
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In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey vs. United States, ordered the dissolution of the company after determining it to be a monopoly.
In 1918, the first regular U.S. airmail service was established between Washington and New York City.
In 1930, Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess, flying on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Cheyenne, Wyo. She persuaded the airline it needed a hostess in the sky and later developed a training program and manual for other stewardesses. She died in 1965 in a horseback riding accident.
In 1941, the Gloster-Whittle E 28/39 aircraft flew over Cranwell, England, in the first successful test of an Allied aircraft using jet propulsion.
In 1948, troops from Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded Israel starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
In 1958, Gen. Charles De Gaulle announced "I hold myself ready to take over the powers of the Republic." Thus, the 67-year-old World War II hero stepped back into the political picture in a crisis that brought France to the brink of civil war.
In 1963, U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper was launched into space atop an Atlas rocket in the final Mercury flight. He completed 22 orbits.
In 1969, Justice Abe Fortas, under fire for a money deal with jailed financier Louis Wolfson, resigned from the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1972, Alabama Gov. George Wallace and three others were injured by a gunman at a presidential campaign rally in Laurel, Md. Wallace was partially paralyzed but active in Southern politics until his death in 1998.
In 1988, Soviet forces began their withdrawal from Afghanistan in compliance with the Geneva accords.
In 1991, Edith Cresson, a Socialist and former trade minister, became the first female prime minister of France.
In 2006, the U.S. State Department said it would restore diplomatic relations with Libya for the first time since 1980 and remove the country from its terrorism sponsors list.
In 2009, two of the "Big 3" U.S. automakers, bankrupt Chrysler and almost-bankrupt General Motors, sent notices terminating relationships with nearly 2,000 car dealers.
In 2013, Steven Miller resigned as acting commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service amid a controversy over its alleged targeting of the Tea Party and other conservative groups.
In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the Kerch Strait Bridge, a large connection between Russia's Krasnodar region and Crimea, which Moscow annexed four years prior. The bridge was heavily damaged in October 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In 2024, Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia, was shot five times in an assassination attempt in Handlová. Juraj Cintula, a writer and former security guard, confessed to the shooting but said he didn't intend to kill the premier, who recovered. He said he was motivated by what he described as Fico's pro-Russian views and support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A thought for the day: "Miracles are instantaneous, they cannot be summoned, but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them." -- American journalist Katherine Anne Porter
