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Leasing Industry Job Wanted
Credit – Experienced Asset Manager

Asset Management

Experienced Asset Manager / Remarketer seeking position.  At IBM Global Financing I managed the IT lease portfolio of PC and PC Server assets.  I mainly focused on creating secondary transactions with leased assets (sales and renewals).  In other roles I was focused on managing remarketing of assets after end of lease.  I am in the Chicago area and I am comfortable and experienced at working remotely.  Contact: lorenw999@gmail.com   LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loren-r-williams/

Credit

Interested in 20 to 30 hours per week. Strong skill set is analyzing/developing business development entry strategies for multiple industry sectors from an equipment finance perspective. This would be more of a consulting approach. Excel, CRM (Siebel, Salesforce, etc.), Word, PPT skills. I have plenty of credit score card analytical experience, but more from an underwriter or portfolio management perspective. Could use my experience with the SBA EIDL credit algorithm experience. Emphasis on asset based and secured financing to the middle and large ticket market. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cramerowen/
Cramer Hill Owen II <ch2capital@gmail.com>

Post a Free Ad that You are Looking
Limited to 100 Words
http://leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted-post.htm

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North Mill Equipment Finance Continues to Expand
with Fourteen New Staff Members

North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC (“North Mill”) continues its upward growth trajectory as 14 new employees are added to the company’s workforce. 

Two senior leaders in newly created roles and Denise Steinberger join the roster.  Ms. Steinberger accepted the role as Vice President, Western Region while Mr. Morris joined as Vice President, National Accounts.

Ms. Steinberger will report to North Mill’s President and will help establish and grow a west coast operations team to better serve customers in the Pacific Coast time zone. She brings more than 20 years of sales and operations experience in the financing space.  Before joining the organization, she was Vice President of Operations at Partners Capital Group where she managed all credit and funding processes.  Additionally, she spent 13 years with Great Western Leasing and Sales as a Director of Lease and Rental Operations.

Reporting to the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Morris will have direct responsibility for growing the company’s base of brokers.  He will implement creative financing arrangements to deepen new and existing referral source relationships and offer ways to boost volume across the board.  Prior to joining North Mill, Mr. Morris was National Sales Manager, Diversified Vendor Markets for LEAF Commercial Capital Corporation.  Additionally, he spent a decade with Marlin Capital Solutions in various senior business development roles.

Mitchell Tobak joined North Mill as AVP, Corporate Development, reporting to the company’s CFO.  In his role, he will support the analytics and capital markets functions. Prior to joining North Mill, he supervised capital markets and asset management operations for a commercial aviation asset manager. 

North Mill’s AVP of Operations has added four new employees to the operations side of the business. 

Jeffrey Allen joins the company as an Asset Management Associate where he will remarket North Mill’s equipment and research new segments for specialty equipment.

Kathryn LeConey joins the team as Manager, Asset Management and will streamline operations and improve departmental efficiency for the team’s Recovery and Remarketing departments.  Previously, she was with Marlin Capital in various business development roles.

Karen Houser joins North Mill as Insurance Administrator where she will concentrate on ways to improve the company’s entire insurance function. 

Yafreisi Olivo-Arredondo joined the Operations team reporting to the company’s Manager of Insurance.  She will be responsible for administering the company’s insurance claims and overseeing the collateral protection insurance process.

North Mill’s Information Technology department has added four new employees to the team, all of whom will report to the company’s Chief Information Officer.

Robert Geary joins as Program Manager where he will oversee the IT project portfolio and project manage all IT-related initiatives. 

Demostenes Gonzalez comes aboard as Data Base Administrator where he will manage all databases and engineer North Mill’s Enterprise Data Warehouse.

AJ Giertych, North Mill’s new Sr. Software Developer, will be the primary architect and application developer for IT development initiatives.

As North Mill’s new Sr. Systems Administrator, Trevor Smith will administer the company’s cloud-based data center and manage the enterprise network infrastructure.

Jessica Link joins North Mill as Contract Administrator reporting to the company’s VP of Contract Administration.  She will manage the documentation process from beginning to end, concentrating on ways to improve all processes associated with the funding of transactions.  Previously, she was with Hitachi Capital America Corp in various credit-related roles.

Naushin Mehdi comes aboard as Credit Analyst reporting to North Mill’s Sr. Vice President, Credit.  As a generalist, she will analyze risk and price transactions according to North Mill’s credit policies.  Before joining North Mill, she held a similar role with Marlin Business Services Corp.

James Weyand joins North Mill as an Account Manager reporting to the company’s VP of Customer Relations.  As a key member of the team, he will work with management to continually develop and deploy processes that improve the overall service to the hundreds of third-party referral agents with whom North Mill partners. He joins North Mill from Marlin Capital Solutions where he held a sales role.

 

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TCF Reports First Quarter 2021 Results
First Quarter Net Income of $123.3 million

 

David T. Provost, Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our first quarter performance was highlighted by strong balance sheet growth as our teams remained focused on taking care of our customers, while we also continued preparing for the closing of our merger with Huntington.

 “We were pleased by the overwhelming shareholder approval of the pending merger with Huntington. With the transaction on track to close later in the second quarter of 2021, we look forward to delivering enhanced shareholder value through our greater Midwest market share, increased scale, broader product set, and enhanced technology capabilities and investments.”

Thomas C. Shafer, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TCF National Bank, commented, “We continued to execute on our business strategy during the quarter as we generated strong loan and lease growth driven by our commercial portfolios.

 “This growth included the acquisition of an equipment finance company in January, further bolstering our team of talented and experienced professionals, which we believe will continue to provide incremental growth opportunities going forward. In addition, we saw strong deposit growth driven by noninterest-bearing deposit inflows during the quarter, which helped to further reduce our overall cost of deposits. As we continue to operate our business and serve our customers today, we will be well positioned to transition our business into Huntington when the merger closes.”

Full Report (press release)
https://www.streetinsider.com/Business+Wire/TCF

 

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Leasing Industry Help Wanted

 

The Five Real Reasons You Didn’t Get Hired

The Ultimate Hire by Ken Lubin, ZRG Partners

The top 5 reasons you didn’t get the job (They aren't what you think, then again maybe they are)

I have been in the executive recruiting for just about 20 years (I can’t believe it)  and have been through 2 major down turns, ‘01 and ‘08, but the real reasons that people don’t get the role for which they interview for hasn’t changed.

Here is a list of most common complaints I hear in the marketplace from hiring teams. 

1. You Stink! Physically you smell. Too much perfume, cologne, body odor, bad breath, smoke, and a host of other things. From a sensory point of view, smell is the number one thing people remember most.
   
   
2. You Talk Too Much! Many people get nervous when they interview and end up getting diarrhea of the mouth. Usually when this happens, you need to plug it up, but most often, they insert their foot as a stop gap: game over!! We have one mouth and two ears for a reason.
   
   
3. You are an A** Hole! Arrogance is a key reason why people don’t get hired. If you are condescending, sarcastic and drop F bombs, you are not getting the job, period
   
   
4. You are Late! If you are late for an interview without any good reason and don’t call the person you are supposed to be meeting  to let them know, it shows you don’t have any respect for people’s time and will be late for everything else.
   
   
5. You are Clueless! If you don’t do research, understand the product and don’t know how you can offer a solution, then why did you go on the interview anyway? Don’t waste the hiring manger’s time and more importantly, don’t waste yours.

Getting your dream job (even if it isn’t) is difficult, so why screw it up by not having common sense and courtesy. A first round interview is a like a first date, treat it as such.

Ken Lubin
Managing Director
ZRG Partners, LLC
Americas I EMEA I Asia Pacific
C: 508-733-4789
https://www.linkedin.com/in/klubin/

"What is the Ultimate Hire? The Ultimate Hire is the professional that every business, team or leader needs in their organization. This is the high performance individual that always rises to the top, brings the team to the next level and can significantly add to the bottom line. The Ultimate Hire is the person that you can't afford to be without. Finding, Attracting, Hiring and Retaining these professionals is critical to the success of your business. We have identified these traits and can help you find these top professionals."

The Ultimate Hire Collection:
http://leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/ultimate.html

 

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Ken Greene, Esq. Report on SFNet Webinar
State Financial Disclosure Legislation:
What You Don’t Know May Hurt You

Ken Greene, Leasing News Legal Editor, and Legal Counsel, American Association of Commercial Finance Brokers, webinar report. This is important as the commercial finance market is changing. Connecticut and New Jersey are actively exploring to join California and New York to pass a business loan, capital lease, and merchant cash advance interest disclosure laws. Non-bank companies and brokers will be required to obtain and maintain a license, file an annual report, and abide by the new rules.  Editor

THE EMPERORS’ NEW DISCLOSURES

Part One: The Regulators are Coming.

         This series of articles discusses the much anticipated, long-awaited disclosure laws in California and New York, as well as those burgeoning in other states. This is critical information for anyone in the business of finance, whether commercial or consumer, and irrespective of the product you market, be it open or close ended loans, revolving lines of credit, sales-based products such as factoring and merchant cash advances, or some variant or amalgam of the above. For those of you who are aware of these new laws, this will serve to alert you that the compliance deadline is near. I will outline some of the highlights of the legislation and rules that will necessarily require a review and revision of your existing documentation. For those who are unaware of these new rules and regulations, it will be a bit of a wake-up call. My goal is to take the mystery out of a fairly complex legal maze and to suggest a clear and simple guideline for compliance. Yes, there are some troublesome issues, some more than others, but, as a whole, this is eminently manageable. However, this may not be the easiest article you have ever read. Not quite James Joyce’s “Ulysses”, but no “Cat in the Hat” either. My suggestion is to read it once to get the gist of it, then return to it on an as needed basis.

         This first segment will reflect on the background giving rise to the regulators and the regulations, since some of you may be wondering how this has happened in the first place. For many years, the equipment finance industry, and perhaps the entire commercial finance space, was fairly unregulated. Kind of like the Wild West while the sheriffs were out of town. Not surprisingly, some people took advantage of the lack of oversight. It was not until 2013 that California, always a leader (perhaps more than some would like) responded, creating the Department of Business Oversight (“DBO”) from the remnants of the Department of Corporations. In 2020, Governor Newsom, in an attempt to strengthen consumer financial protections, proposed the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (“CCFPL”), to protect California consumers from pandemic-inspired scams and regulatory retreat by some federal agencies, most notably the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”). In conjunction with this new set of laws, the DBO changed its name to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”).

         The DFPI is the licensing authority for the issuance of California Finance Lenders (“CFL”) license, and oversight of its licensees. There are ongoing requirements and obligations that govern the conduct and practices of licensees, including maintenance of a minimum net worth of $25k or more, procurement of a $25k surety bond, filing annual reports and paying assessments based on volume of business, and more. Having a CFL license exempts the licensee from the usury provision in the California Constitution. In exchange for that benefit, the California Financing Law (Financial Code §2200 et seq.), which pertains to licensees, imposes a series of rules and restrictions designed to ensure that the licensee conducts its business ethically, including prohibitions against fraudulent representations, misleading advertisements, or any fraudulent or dishonest actions. California is the only state to date to have such a comprehensive licensing law.

         The California licensing laws were not enough to placate some legislators, who believed there was still too much abuse and predatory conduct within the commercial loan industry. To address this problem, in 2018, the California Governor approved Senate Bill 1235, authored and introduced by Senator Steve Glazer. The initial bill, as written, requires a provider who facilitates commercial financing to disclose specified information to the recipient at the time an offer of commercial financing is extended, and to obtain the recipient’s signature on the disclosure before consummating the transaction. The law specifies the information that must be disclosed in a commercial loan transaction, including the total amount of funds provided, information relating the payments, and the total dollar cost of the funding. The bill also requires disclosure of the total costs of financing expressed as an annualized rate (at least until January 1, 2024).

         The law also addresses asset-based and sales-based financing, including factoring and merchant cash advances, but only to say that these forms of financing could be disclosed by an alternate means that “meets specified requirements”, i.e. a hypothetical, which, of course, means an “estimate” or, to some degree , an educated guess. The lack of specificity in connection with these types of financing, and a tacit acknowledgement by Sen. Glazer and Gov. Brown that some forms of financing are simply not conducive to easy formulaic disclosures led to a provision in the law that delegated to the DBO/DFPI the responsibility of adopting regulations to clarify these regulations. Until the regulations are adopted, providers are not subject to the new law.

         And, they have not been adopted yet. The pandemic certainly slowed down the process. Still, the prospective rules have been circulated for comment to the interested public four times, most recently on April 7, 2021, as to which the comment period ends on April 26, 2021. It appears likely that this will be the last comment period, and that the regulations will be issued shortly after April 26. Note, however, it is anticipated that it will be six months after the regulations are adopted before providers will need to comply.

         Before we do the “deep dive into the weeds” (the colloquial update to “God is in the details”), there are a few universal truths that everyone should understand and respect regarding the California laws:

1. After significant lobbying from industry insiders, including a yeoman’s effort by members of the ELFA, true leases were excluded from the disclosure statutes. EFA’S, and other “leases intended as security”, are not exempt from the new laws.
2. Although depository institutions, such as federal and state-chartered banks, are exempt from the disclosure laws (as well as the California licensing laws), some bank subsidiaries are not exempt. This is a curious departure from the law that exempts bank subsidiaries from licensing laws. It is also not clear from the law whether this includes loan brokers rather than online platform intermediaries.
3. All of the disclosure laws apply to commercial financing transactions of $500,000 or less. This will require further explanation and will be discussed later.
4. “Commercial financing” includes accounts receivable purchase transactions, factoring, merchant cash advances, asset-based lending transactions, commercial loans, commercial open-end credit plans, and lease financing transactions (but not, as previously noted, true leases).
5. Commercial financing transactions secured by real property are exempt.
6. A commercial financing transaction in which the recipient is a dealer or an affiliate of such a dealer, or a vehicle rental company, or an affiliate of such a company, if the transaction is pursuant to a specific commercial financing offer or commercial open-end credit plan of at least $50,000, including any commercial loan made pursuant to such a commercial financing transaction, is exempt.
7. The disclosure laws, like California’s licensing laws, exempt a person who makes no more than one transaction “in California” (presumably meaning the borrower is in California) per year.
8. Similarly, the California disclosure laws exempt any person who makes five or fewer commercial financing transactions “in California” in a 12-month period that are “incidental to the business of the person relying upon the exemption.” I’ve always interpreted the “incidental” phrase to mean a person or company whose primary business is not finance, but who offers financing as an adjunct or accommodation to its customers. If you’re a finance company, I don’t suggest relying upon this exemption to avoid licensing or the disclosure laws.

         New York does not have a licensing scheme like the one in California, although it does require licensing for providers situated in the state. However, New York recently enacted disclosure laws that are set to take effect on June 21, 2021. Like California, the disclosure regulations do not apply to transactions over $500,000. Note that this provision expires on January 1, 2024, when it will be replaced by another, similar, but modified law.

         In Part Two of this series, we will begin to analyze the new regulations in both California and New York as they apply to specific types of transactions.

Thankfully, true leases are exempt from the disclosure laws in both California and New York.

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Top Ten Leasing News
April 19 to April 23

(Stories most opened by readers)

(1) Sale of Marlin Expected 1st Quarter, 2022, Depending on
  Sale of Marlin Bank, Other Regulations and Requirements
    President/CEO Hilzinger Expected to Retire after Completion
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_21.htm#sale

(2) Oh, NO! The pets found out….
    Cartoon
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_19.htm#pets

(3) New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
    and Related Industries
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_23.htm#hires

(4) The U.S. Cities with the Most Homeless People
    Largest Number of People experiencing homelessness in 2020
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_21.htm#us

(5) Infographic: 2021 Section 179 Business Vehicles
  A visual look at the Section 179 tax deduction and
    how it applies to business vehicles
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_19.htm#v

(6) Parent Company of These 6 Restaurant Chains
    Just Declared Bankruptcy (Buffet Operations)
https://www.eatthis.com/news-fresh-acquisitions-delcares-bankruptcy/

(7) Cash Advance Firm to Pay $9.8M to Settle FTC Complaint
    It Overcharged Small Businesses
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_23.htm#cash

(8) The post-pandemic spending spree has begun
     Here are 6 things Americans are buying
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/18/the-post-pandemic-spending-spree-begins-6-things-americans-are-buying.html

(9) As mask mandates end
    Oregon bucks trend with permanent rule
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-oregon-6f7f919d27644d02c330da5a8648af95

(10) CIT Names Business Development Leaders
    for Northeast, West and Southwest Regions
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2021/04_23.htm#cit

Strongest Quarter Ever for the FinTech Sector
Quarter1 2021 FinTech Insights

Highlights of the Report:

• Q1 2021 was the largest and most active quarter ever for FinTech financing activity with over $29 billion in volume across more than 750 transactions

• In Q1 there were 77 financing rounds of $100 million or more, a record-breaking amount, elevating numerous companies to "unicorn" valuation levels

• Across all company stages, 15 venture capital and strategic investors each made 9 or more new or follow-on investments in FinTech companies in Q1 2021, compared to just one firm having done this in Q1 2020

• Similar to financing activity, Q1 2021 was the most active quarter ever for FinTech M&A with over 370 deals

• Total announced M&A dollar volume reached $95 billion in Q1, with 21 deals all valued over $1 billion, the most ever in a single quarter

• Continuing the surge of SPAC transaction activity in the FinTech sector, in Q1 there were 17 new SPAC mergers with FinTech companies announced, more than in all of 2020, which was previously a record year with 15

• There were 7 FinTech IPOs globally in Q1, and there are several high-profile FinTech companies that are currently on file or eyeing to go public later this year

• In addition to providing both aggregate data and breakdowns on a sector, geographical and individual transaction basis, our report also includes links to 50+ individual transaction profiles published by FT

Full Report (82 pages)
https://ftpartners.docsend.com/view/8byh35s2v9unrgzm

Source: FTpartners.com

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Boston Consulting Group has just unveiled its annual ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has without a doubt demonstrated the importance of innovation in turbulent times. While U.S. tech giants - Apple, followed by Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft - still monopolize the first couple of ranks with the context of the pandemic, several companies in the pharmaceutical sector are also included in the Top 50 this year. U.S. company Pfizer, which has developed a vaccine together with BioNtech and announced the launch of two drugs against COVID-19, has notably entered the top 10.

The survey also identified strong regional variations in the innovation readiness of companies, with China and the US in the lead.

Looking back, the technology and telecommunications sectors has by far been the most strongly represented among the top performers in the ranking since its first publication in 2005. While well-established players in tech, such as Apple, IBM or Microsoft, continue to maintain their positions at the top of the list, new heavyweights have established themselves at the forefront of innovation in recent decades, among them as Amazon and more recently, Tesla and Chinese telecommunications company Huawei.

By Claire Jenik, Statista

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Alberto Calva | acalva@acusconsulting.com
acalva@acus.ca | Cell & WhatsApp +1-416-824-1924 |

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##### Press Release ############################

FEMA Reports 3.7 Million Vaccine Shots, 1,251 Communities
Hard to Reach Locations/Providing Financial Assistance

WASHINGTON -- FEMA continues its push to ensure everyone who wants a vaccine can get one, as the nation approaches President Biden’s goal of 200 million vaccinations in 100 days. FEMA continues partnering with state, local and tribal governments to open additional federal community vaccination center pilot sites, which include federal support and supplemental vaccine allocation.

FEMA helped deliver more than 3.7 million shots and is supporting 1,351 community vaccine centers across the country. Today, federal community vaccination center pilot centers are opening in Bessemer, Alabama; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Central Point, Oregon.

Additionally, FEMA mobile vaccination units continue bringing vaccinations to hard-to-reach and high-risk populations who cannot access services from fixed sites, delivering more than 16,000 vaccines to individuals to date. Ten mobile vaccination units are currently operating in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and South Dakota.

Find vaccine updates in your community and more information from your local health department to confirm if you can get a vaccine. You can find a list of places where adults can get a vaccine. Visit FEMA.Gov for detailed information on FEMA’s vaccination support efforts.

FEMA remains committed to helping ease some of the financial stress created by the pandemic, providing financial assistance for COVID-19-related funeral expenses incurred after Jan. 20, 2020. The agency has received more than 120,000 applications since the program launched last week.

Applicants may apply by calling 844-684-6333 (TTY: 800-462-7585) from 9a.m. to 9p.m. EDT, Monday through Friday. Multilingual services are available. Callers who use a relay service, videophone or captioned telephones should provide their specific number assigned to that service. It is important that FEMA can contact applicants. Please note that phone calls from FEMA may come from an unidentified number.

Additionally, the application period for $110 million in Emergency Food and Shelter Program supplemental funding is now open.  Nonprofits, faith-based, and government organizations that provide shelter, food, transportation, basic heath and first aid, COVID-19 testing and associated medical care needed during quarantine and isolation and other supportive services may apply.

### Press Release ############################

Hound (unknown type)/Black Mouth Cur Mix
Norwalk, Conneticut  Adopt-a- Dog

Ruby
Female
2 Years Old
Red/Golden/Orange/Chesnut
with White
Medium Size
Weight: 30 lbs.
Spated
Shots Up to Date
Not Good with Dogs

Ruby is an adorable and petite 2 year old hound/cur mix. She is the sweetest girl who loves to have your attention and affection. Ruby will make a great walking partner, copilot and cuddle buddy. She is currently being treated for heartworm and is available for foster to adopt while she undergoes treatment. Ruby would prefer to be a solo pet so she can be treated like the princess she is. She is looking forward to lots of love from a doting family.

PAWS
(Pet Animal Welfare Society)
504 Main Avenue
Norwalk, Connetict 06851
Contact: Lisa Barnett
dogs@pawsct.org
(203) 759-9572 ext. 109
https://www.pawsct.org/

Submit Application
You must be an approved adopter before making an appointment.
2. Approve Application
You must be an approved adopter before making an appointment.

Aoolication:
https://linktr.ee/pawsct

All visits are by appointment only.
You MUST submit an application

We are currently only allowing 2 people per party and everyone needs to wear a mask.  
    

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 October 13 - 15 National vehicle Leasing Association
IN-PERSON Conference, Sunny Atlantic Beach Florida

Save the Date

"We hope you join us IN-PERSON in beautiful, sunny Atlantic Beach, Florida, October 13-15 for the 2021 NVLA Annual Conference at the One Ocean Resort and Spa.

"This year's conference will feature a golf outing, outdoor networking, general sessions about EVs, Collections, KPIs, and more!

"Registration will be announced soon.

"We are all looking forward to the chance to being able to meet face-to-face at our 2021 Annual Conference and we hope to see you there."

Not an NVLA Member? There is no time like the present
    to become a member!
https://www.nvla.org/general/register_member_type.asp?

News Briefs---

Millions Appear to Be Skipping
    Second COVID-19 Vaccine Shot in the U.S.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/04/millions-americans-skip-second-covid-vaccine-dose.html

Intel CEO predicts chip shortages affecting the automobile
   industry and other sectors likely to last two more years
https://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-earnings-first-quarter-2021-11619043954

Indian Navy starts process to take 24 naval
    utility helicopters on lease
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/indian-navy-starts-process-to-take-24-naval-utility-helicopters-on-lease-243148

Florida family allegedly sold thousands
      of bottles of bleach marketed as Covid-19 cure
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-family-allegedly-sold-thousands-bottles-bleach-marketed-covid-cure-n1265244

Michigan became hotspot as variants rose
    and vigilance fell
https://www.yahoo.com/news/michigan-became-hotspot-variants-rose-143318985.html

Hawaii tourists are renting U-Haul vans instead of rental cars
    due to a massive shortage sending prices up to $700 a day
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hawaii-tourists-renting-uhaul-vans-124800737.html

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You May Have Missed---

Technology wars are becoming
    the new trade wars
https://www.ft.com/content/6fcd69ab-4dcd-4ffa-ae0f-b9aadfc79e52

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Sports Briefs---

Can’t win ’em all; A’s streak ends at 13 with loss in Baltimore
https://buffalonews.com/sports/oaklands-13-game-winning-streak-ends-orioles-romp-8-1/article_d27d59b5-a87a-56f4-97c0-008cace0ca00.html

Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce: Size won't stop 166-pound
    DeVonta Smith from achieving NFL greatness
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/draft/2021/04/25/devonta-smith-size-weight-166-pounds-isaac-bruce-wide-receiver/7358981002/

Fernando Tatis Jr. vs. Trevor Bauer: Padres star homers
    twice off Dodgers righty, hits back again on Twitter
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/fernando-tatis-jr-vs-trevor-bauer-padres-star-homers-twice-off-dodgers-righty-hits-back-again-on-twitter/

Canadian skater shatters the traditional
    world of figure skating
https://www.yahoo.com/news/canadian-skater-shatters-traditional-world-231336593.html

Watch: Rob Gronkowski sets Guinness World Record
     with 600-foot catch from helicopter
https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2021/04/25/rob-gronkowski-sets-guinness-world-record-600-foot-catch-from-helicopter-video

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California Nuts Briefs---

South Bay schools reopened,
    but most students stayed home
https://sanjosespotlight.com/south-bay-schools-reopened-but-most-students-stayed-home/

Newsom seeks ban on new fracking in state by 2024
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/04/23/newsom-seeks-ban-on-new-fracking-in-state-by-2024/

Trumark Homes buys remaining 37 sites in long-unfinished
    San Rafael Loch Lomond project
https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/trumark-homes-buys-remaining-37-sites-in-long-unfinished-san-rafael-loch-lo/

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“Gimme that Wine”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJnQoi8DSE8

Proof of Terroir? Researchers Dig Deep into Argentine Malbec
https://www.winespectator.com/articles/proof-of-terroir-researchers-dig-deep-into-argentine-malbec

Wine Giant Fights South Carolina's Quirky Liquor Laws
https://www.wfae.org/politics/2021-04-22/wine-giant-fights-south-carolinas-quirky-liquor-laws

Jim Beam distiller puts $1 billion behind sustainability,
    diversity, responsible drinking plans
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/21/jim-beam-distiller-puts-1-billion-behind-esg-responsible-drinking-plans.html

Free Wine App
https://www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp/

Wine Prices by vintage
http://www.winezap.com
http://www.wine-searcher.com/

This Day in History

     1607 - Ships under the command of Capt. Christopher Newport sought shelter in Chesapeake Bay. The forced landing led to the founding of Jamestown on the James River, the first English settlement. An expedition of English colonists, including Capt. John Smith, went ashore at Cape Henry, Va., to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere.
    1655 - Dutch West Indies Co. denied Peter Stuyvesant's desire to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam.
    1777 - Sybil Ludington, age 16, rode through towns in New York and Connecticut to warn that “the Redcoats were coming... the Redcoats were coming” to Danbury, CT. All very Paul Reverish, except Sybil completed HER ride, and SHE thus gathered enough volunteers to help beat back the British the next day. Her ride was twice the distance of Revere's. No poet immortalized (and exaggerated) her accomplishments. Revere did NOT complete his ride; two other men actually did most of the warning ride. Her hometown was renamed after her.  
    1785 - Birthday of John James Audubon (d. 1851), Haiti.  American artist and naturalist, best known for his “Birds of America.” http://www.haleysteele.com/jjaudubon/index.cfm
    1798 - Birthday of Jim Beckwourth (d. 1866 or 7), black American mountain man, born into slavery in Frederick County, VA. Marrying a series of Indian women, Beckwourth lived with the Crow Indians for about six years. He is credited with the discovery of Beckwourth Pass, through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, between present-day Reno, NV and Portola, CA, during the Gold Rush years, and improved the Beckwourth Trail, which thousands of settlers followed to central California, where he was immortalized by journalist Thomas Bonner, “The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth: Mountaineer, Scout and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians.” He later served as a guide and interpreter for US troops in the Cheyenne War of 1864. He died mysteriously during a return visit to the Crow.  The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s celebrated Beckwourth as an early African-American pioneer and he has since been featured as a role model in children’s literature and textbooks.
http://www.beckwourth.org/
    1819 - One of the most popular “groups” started as Washington Lodge 1, Odd Fellows Lodge, in Baltimore, MD. It was organized by Thomas Wildey and acted under a charter obtained from the Duke of York Lodge of England. In 1821, Wildey organized the Grand Lodge of Maryland, of which he became grand master, and the Grand Lodge of the United States, of which, he became grand sire. At the time of his death in 1861, there were more than 200,000 members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 42 states.
    1822 - Birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted (d. 1903), Hartford, CT.  Known as the "father of landscape architecture in America," Olmsted participated in the designing of Yosemite National Park, New York City's Central Park and parks for Boston, Hartford and Louisville. Olmsted's home and studio, Fairsted Estate outside of Boston, is now preserved as a National Historic Site and is open to the public: 99 Warren St, Brookline, MA 02146.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr26.html
    1834 - Killer frosts were reported in the Deep South. The frost was quite severe around Huntsville, AL, and highlighted a backward spring in the South that year.
    1859 - Dan Sickles was acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity, the first time this defense was used successfully in the US.  In Lafayette Square, across from the White House, Sickles shot and killed Philip Barton Key II, the district attorney of the District of Columbia and the son of Francis Scott Key.  Sickles had discovered that Philip Key was having an affair with his young wife.  Sickles surrendered and confessed to the murder. Sickles was charged with murder. He secured several leading politicians as defense attorneys, among them Edward M. Stanton, later to become Secretary of War, and Chief Counsel James T. Brady, like Sickles associated with Tammany Hall. Sickles pleaded temporary insanity—the first use of this defense in the United States.  Before the jury, Stanton argued that Sickles had been driven insane by his wife's infidelity, and thus was out of his mind when he shot Key. The papers soon trumpeted that Sickles was a hero for "saving all the ladies of Washington from this rogue named Key."
    1865 - John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, is shot dead near Bowling Green, Virginia.  Learning of Booth's location at the Garrett farm, before dawn on April 26, the soldiers caught up with the fugitives, who were hiding in the barn.  David Herold surrendered, but Booth refused Conger's demand to surrender, saying, "I prefer to come out and fight." The soldiers then set the barn on fire.  As Booth moved about inside the blazing barn, Sergeant Boston Corbett shot him in the neck, killing him.
http://www.nps.gov/foth/booth.htm
    1865 - Confederate General Joseph Johnston officially surrenders his army to General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina. After the surrender of General Robert E. Lee's force on April 9, Johnston's army was the last hope of the Confederacy.
    1882 - Birthday of Jessie Redmon Fauset (d. 1961), Fredericksville, NJ.  An editor, teacher, and writer, she was probably the first black women to receive the Phi Beta Kappa. Because of her fine writing ability, W. E. B. DuBois invited her to join the NAACP staff as literary editor of its publication “Crisis.” Fauset then played a major role in the literary tradition of the Harlem Renaissance by encouraging young writers. Her much praised personal writings often dealt with racial prejudice. She was a high school teacher.
   1886 - Blues singer Ma Rainey (d. 1939) was born Gertrude Pridgett, Columbus, GA. During her heyday in the 1920's, she was billed as the "Mother of the Blues" and served as a model for the more famous Bessie Smith. The best known of her 90-odd recordings is "See See Rider Blues," made in 1925 with Louis Armstrong on cornet. The song has been revived countless times by blues, jazz and rock musicians. Her life inspired the 1985 Broadway musical "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."
http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/rainey.html
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/index.html
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Rainey.html
   1893 - Birthday of Anita Loos (d. 1981) at Sisson, CA. American author and playwright, she is best remembered for her book “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” published in 1925.
http://women.eb.com/women/articles/Loos_Anita.html
http://www.catharton.com/authors/230.htm
    1895 - Birthday of pianist Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport (d. 1955), Anniston, AL
http://www.redhotjazz.com/cowcow.html    
    1908 - Drummer Dave Tough (d. 1948) was born Oak Park, IL.
http://www.angelfire.com/mac/keepitlive/drummers/Tough/tough.htm
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Dave%20Tough.html
    1914 - Author Bernard Malamud (d. 1986) was born, Brooklyn, NY.  Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, “The Natural,” was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford. His 1966 novel, “The Fixer,” (also filmed), about antisemitism in Tsarist Russia, won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Bernard_Malamud.htm
http://www.emanuelnyc.org/bulletin/archive/35.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bernard_malamud.htm
    1920 - Birthday of platinum blonde singer, Peggy Lee (d. 2002), born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota.  One of the great U.S. jazz singers, stylists, and composers, some of her best known renditions include "Why Don't You Do Right," "Fever," “Big Spender,” “Manana,” "Is That All There Is?" She sued Disney corporation for just compensation for her work on the movie “The Lady and the Tramp” for which she got only $3,500 for composing or co-composing all of the music, as well as playing four of the major roles, and singing three of the hits. She signed the contract before videos came into existence and the case became celebrated for revealing film studio's inventive bookkeeping methods that kept films from showing a profit even though it was one of the highest grossing movies of the period. The courts awarded her $3.8 million. The film grossed $160 million with another $72 million from the videos. Michael Eisner, the new president of Disney who collected up to $582 million a year in salaries and bonuses fought the Lee suit through the courts. Lee was 70 when the verdict was rendered but Eisner continued with an appeal.  In her 60-year-long career, Lee was the recipient of three Grammy Awards (including the Lifetime Achievement Award), an Academy Award nomination, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Award, the President's Award, the Ella Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Living Legacy Award from the Women's International Center. In 1999, Lee was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
http://www.peggylee.com/biography/bio_curbio.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0498007/
    1921 - Flutist Jimmy Giuffre (d. 2008) birthday, Dallas, TX.
http://users.bestweb.net/~msnyder/clarinet/giuffre.htm
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/REVIEWS/R1299_27.HTM
http://www.mosaicrecords.com/DisplaySelectionDetail.asp?SelectionId=31
http://www.retards.org/jazz/giuffre/
(listen to the “Train and the River”)
    1921 - Birthday of pianist Dave “Fat Man” Williams (d. 1982), New Orleans, LA
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/50054/
ref=m_art_dp/103-6620160-9563023
    1921 – Birthday of alto saxophonist Preston Love (d. 2004), Omaha, NE.
http://www.nebrocks.org/preston.htm
    1922 - Pianist Dorothy Donegan (d. 1998) was born, Chicago, IL
http://www.iaje.org/bio.asp?ArtistID=29
http://www.jazzhouse.org/library/index.php3?read=dobie4
http://www.jazzhall.org/jazz.cgi?@DONEGAND
http://elvispelvis.com/ddonegan.htm
    1924 - Sax player Teddy Edwards (d. 2003) born, Jackson, MS
http://home.earthlink.net/~tededge/
http://home.earthlink.net/~tededge/Biography.htm
    1931 - NBC radio presented "Lum and Abner" for the first time. The popular program continued for 24 years on the air, not all of them on NBC. In fact, all four networks (CBS, ABC, Mutual and NBC) carried the program for a period of time. "Lum and Abner" hailed from the fictitious town of Pine Ridge. Fictitious, that is, before 1936, when Waters, Arkansas, changed its name to Pine Ridge
http://home.inu.net/stemple/
http://www.lum-abner.com/
    1931 - Baseball's Lou Gehrig hits a home run but is called out for passing a runner.  The mistake costs him the American League home run crown as he and Babe Ruth end up tied for the season.
    1932 - The Texaco fire chief, Ed Wynn, was heard on radio's "Texaco Star Theater" for the first time. Wynn, a popular vaudeville performer, demanded a live audience to react to his humor if he was to make the switch to radio. The network consented and Wynn became radio's first true superstar. He would later make the switch to TV.
http://timstvshowcase.com/edwynn.html
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Wynn,+Ed
http://members.aol.com/TampaChatr/colgatecomedyhour.html
http://www.shokus.com/wynn.html
    1936 – Entertainer Carol Burnett was born in San Antonio, TX.  One of television’s enduring stars, her “The Carol Burnett Show” was at or near the top of TV ratings on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. The series won 25 primetime Emmy Awards. In 2013, TV Guide ranked the show number 17 on its list of the 60 Greatest Shows of All Time and, in 2007, it was included on the list of Time’s 100 Best TV Shows of All Time.
    1937 - During the Spanish Civil War, the German military tests its powerful new air force, the Luftwaffe, and the principles of Blitzkrieg, on the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain. Although the independence-minded Basque region opposed General Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, Guernica itself was a small rural city of only 5,000 inhabitants that declared non-belligerence in the conflict. With Franco's approval, the cutting-edge German aircraft began their unprovoked attack at 4:30 p.m., the busiest hour of the market day in Guernica. For three hours, the German planes poured down a continuous and unopposed rain of bombs and gunfire on the town and surrounding countryside. One-third of Guernica's 5,000 inhabitants were killed or wounded, and fires engulfed the city and burned for days. The indiscriminate killing of civilians at Guernica aroused world opinion and became a symbol of fascist brutality. Unfortunately, by 1942, all major participants in World War II had adopted the bombing innovations developed by the Nazis at Guernica, and by the war's end, in 1945, millions of innocent civilians had perished under Allied and Axis air raids.
    1938 - Birthday of singer/guitarist Duane Eddy, Corning, NY. Scores of young musicians took up the guitar after hearing his distinctive "twangy" sound, which came from playing the melody on the bass string of his instrument. Beginning in 1958, he had 25 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Among the most popular were "Rebel Rouser," "Because They're Young" and "Dance with the Guitar Man," all three of which sold more than a million copies. Duane Eddy had not had a record on the charts in North America since 1964, but in 1986 he returned as a guest artist on the Art of Noise's Grammy-Award-winning hit, "Peter Gunn." Eddy had first recorded, and had a hit with the TV theme, in 1960. His sound influenced countless rock guitarists and opened the door to the electric guitar-dominated bands of the '60s and '70s.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008.
http://www.history-of-rock.com/duane_eddy.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~Tony50/deddy-1.html
http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/e/eddy1000.htm
    1941 - The Chicago Cubs became the first Major League team to install an organ in their ballpark. Roy Nelson played a pre-game program.
    1942 - Birthday of singer Bobby Rydell, born Robert Louis Ridarelli, Philadelphia, PA. At the age of eight, he won an amateur contest run by bandleader Paul Whiteman, and it was Whiteman who gave him his stage name. He was just 17 when he had his first of two dozen chart records, "Kissin' Time," in 1959. Rydell's other Top Ten hits included "Wild One" (1960), “Swingin’ School” (1960), "Volare" (1960), “The Cha-Cha-Cha” (1962), “Forget Him (1963). He starred in the movie "Bye Bye Birdie" in 1963.  He continues to perform internationally and he returned to tour Australia in 2014.
    1944 - Montgomery Ward Chairman Sewell Avery was physically removed from his office when federal troops seized Ward's Chicago offices after the company refused to obey President Franklin D. Roosevelt's order to recognize a CIO union. Government control ended May 9, shortly before the National Labor Relations Board announced the United Mail Order Warehouse and Retail Employees Union had won an election to represent the company's workers.
    1947 - Birthday of Donna de Varona, San Diego.  U.S. swimmer, holder of 37 national swimming titles and two Olympic gold medals. She set a number of world records. Considered one of the finest exponents of the difficult 400-medley races that combined backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle, the Olympics did not hold the event for the women, just the men before 1964. She has been a battler for equal rights for women athletes. Verona cofounded and served as president of the Women's Sports Foundation.
    1951 - Birthday of Sally Ride, (d. 2012) Encino, CA.  The first U.S. female astronaut into space, she was a crew member of the 7th and 13th space missions in 1983 and 1984. Ride held a Ph.D. in physics from Stanford. As part of the commission investigating the 1986 Challenger disaster, she declared the shuttle to be unsafe and refused to go back into space until after it was radically redesigned, claiming other astronauts felt the same way. It was redesigned but she was never given another space flight. After writing a report advocating the establishment of a lunar base, she became head of the Space Institute of the University of California (San Diego) in 1989.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html
    1951 - DUKE, RAY E., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Mugok, Korea, 26 April 1951. Entered service at: Whitwell (Marion County), Tenn. Born: 9 May 1923, Whitwell, Tenn. G.O. No.: 20, 19 March 1954. Citation: Sfc. Duke, a member of Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Upon learning that several of his men were isolated and heavily engaged in an area yielded by his platoon when ordered to withdraw, he led a small force in a daring assault which recovered the position and the beleaguered men. Another enemy attack in strength resulted in numerous casualties but Sfc. Duke, although wounded by mortar fragments, calmly moved along his platoon line to coordinate fields of fire and to urge his men to hold firm in the bitter encounter. Wounded a second time he received first aid and returned to his position. When the enemy again attacked shortly after dawn, despite his wounds, Sfc. Duke repeatedly braved withering fire to insure maximum defense of each position. Threatened with annihilation and with mounting casualties, the platoon was again ordered to withdraw when Sfc. Duke was wounded a third time in both legs and was unable to walk. Realizing that he was impeding the progress of 2 comrades who were carrying him from the hill, he urged them to leave him and seek safety. He was last seen pouring devastating fire into the ranks of the onrushing assailants. The consummate courage, superb leadership, and heroic actions of Sfc. Duke, displayed during intensive action against overwhelming odds, reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.
    1952 - Air Force Major William H. Wescott, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, scored his fifth aerial victory to become the 12th ace of the Korean War. His F-86 Sabre "Lady Francis/Michigan Center" was also used by Colonel "Gabby" Gabreski for one of his victories.
    1954 - ESTOCIN, MICHAEL J., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization. Captain (then Lt. Cmdr.), U.S. Navy, Attack Squadron 192, USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14). Place and date: Haiphong, North Vietnam, 20 and 26 April 1967. Entered service at: Akron Ohio, 2() July 1954. Born: 27 April 1931, Turtle Creek, Pa. Citation. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 20 and 26 April 1967 as a pilot in Attack Squadron 192, embarked in USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14). Leading a 3-plane group of aircraft in support of a coordinated strike against two thermal power plants in Haiphong, North Vietnam, on 20 April 1967, Capt. Estocin provided continuous warnings to the strike group leaders of the surface-to-air missile (SAM) threats, and personally neutralized 3 SAM sites. Although his aircraft was severely damaged by an exploding missile, he reentered the target area and relentlessly prosecuted a SHRIKE attack in the face of intense antiaircraft fire. With less than 5 minutes of fuel remaining he departed the target area and commenced in-flight refueling which continued for over 100 miles. Three miles aft of Ticonderoga, and without enough fuel for a second approach, he disengaged from the tanker and executed a precise approach to a fiery arrested landing. On 26 April 1967, in support of a coordinated strike against the vital fuel facilities in Haiphong, he led an attack on a threatening SAM site, during which his aircraft was seriously damaged by an exploding SAM; nevertheless, he regained control of his burning aircraft and courageously launched his SHRIKE missiles before departing the area. By his inspiring courage and unswerving devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger, Captain Estocin upheld the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
    1956 - Top Hits
“Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One” - Elvis Presley
“The Poor People of Paris” - Les Baxter
“Ivory Tower” - Cathy Carr
“Blue Suede Shoes” - Carl Perkins
    1959 - Yomiuri Giant Sadaharu Oh hits the first of his homers in Japan.
    1961 - Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his first home run of the season against Paul Foytack of the Detroit Tigers. Maris went onto hit 60 more homers, breaking Babe Ruth's record for the most home runs in a season.
http://www.ndrogermaris.com/
    1962 - Ranger IV impacted the moon at 5,963 miles per hour. It was launched on April 23 from the Atlantic Missile Range, Cape Canaveral and traveled an estimated 229,541 miles.
http://www.friends-partners.org/mwade/craft/raner345.htm
    1964 - Top Hits
“Can't Buy Me Love” - The Beatles
“Twist and Shout” - The Beatles
“Do You Want to Know a Secret” - The Beatles
“Understand Your Man” - Johnny Cash
    1965 - In the third round of the NBA draft, the New York Knicks selected Dick Van Arsdale. With the next pick, the Detroit Pistons drafted Dick's twin brother, Tom. Both went on to distinguished careers.
    1967 - Mama Cass Elliot gives birth to a daughter she names Owen Vanessa. She never told anyone who the father is.  Many years later, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas, helped Owen locate her biological father, bassist Chuck Day. His paternity was not publicly revealed until his 2008 death.   After Elliot's death, her younger sister, Leah Kunkel, (then married to Los Angeles-based session drummer Russ Kunkel), received custody of Owen, then seven years old, and raised her along with her own son, Nathaniel.
    1968 - LEE, MILTON A., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 2d Battalion, 502d Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). place and date: Near Phu Bai, Thua Thien province, Republic of Vietnam, 26 April 1968. Entered service at: San Antonio, Tex. Born: 28 February 1949, Shreveport, La. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Lee distinguished himself near the city of Phu Bai in the province of Thua Thien. Pfc. Lee was serving as the radio telephone operator with the 3d platoon, Company B. As lead element for the company, the 3d platoon received intense surprise hostile fire from a force of North Vietnamese Army regulars in well-concealed bunkers. With 50 percent casualties, the platoon maneuvered to a position of cover to treat their wounded and reorganize, while Pfc. Lee moved through the heavy enemy fire giving lifesaving first aid to his wounded comrades. During the subsequent assault on the enemy defensive positions, Pfc. Lee continuously kept close radio contact with the company commander, relaying precise and understandable orders to his platoon leader. While advancing with the front rank toward the objective, Pfc. Lee observed 4 North Vietnamese soldiers with automatic weapons and a rocket launcher Lying in wait for the lead element of the platoon. As the element moved forward, unaware of the concealed danger, Pfc. Lee immediately and with utter disregard for his own personal safety, passed his radio to another soldier and charged through the murderous fire. Without hesitation he continued his assault, overrunning the enemy position, killing all occupants and capturing 4 automatic weapons and a rocket launcher. Pfc. Lee continued his 1-man assault on the second position through a heavy barrage of enemy automatic weapons fire. Grievously wounded, he continued to press the attack, crawling forward into a firing position and delivering accurate covering fire to enable his platoon to maneuver and destroy the position. Not until the position was overrun did Pfc. Lee falter in his steady volume of fire and succumb to his wounds. Pfc. Lee's heroic actions saved the lives of the lead element and were instrumental in the destruction of the key position of the enemy defense. Pfc. Lee's gallantry at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, the 502d Infantry, and the U.S. Army.
    1969 - The Beatles entered the British charts with "Get Back." It had been recorded on the roof of the Apple Records building in London.
    1971 - The U.S. command in Saigon announces that the U.S. force level in Vietnam is 281,400 men, the lowest since July, 1966. These figures were a direct result of President Richard Nixon's new "Vietnamization" strategy, which he had announced at the Midway Conference in June, 1969. This strategy was a three-pronged program to disengage the United States from the war in Vietnam.
    1972 - Top Hits
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” - Roberta Flack
“Rockin' Robin” - Michael Jackson
“I Gotcha” - Joe Tex
“Chantilly Lace” - Jerry Lee Lewis
    1977 - The disco haven, Studio 54, was opened in an abandoned opera house in New York by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. It became the center of the jet-set disco society, attracting the likes of Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger and Liz Taylor. Disco - up-tempo, heavily-orchestrated dance music - was hugely popular in the 1970's. It was rooted in rhythm-and-blues, but the idea of disco dance clubs is generally thought to have originated in homosexual bars and clubs in New York.
    1980 - Studio 54 was closed for liquor license violations, several months after owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were jailed for tax evasion. It reopened under new management in 1981.
    1980 - Top Hits
“Call Me” - Blondie
“Ride like the Wind” - Christopher Cross
“With You I'm Born Again” - Billy Preston & Syreeta
“A Lesson in Leavin'” - Dottie West
    1984 - Severe thunderstorms associated with an intense cyclone spawned a total of forty-seven tornadoes in two days from Louisiana to Upper Michigan. The tornadoes killed 16 persons and injured 259 others
    1984 - The great Count Bill Basie passes away at the age of 79, Hollywood, FL. I took my three kids to his last concert at the Circle Star in San Carlos, California. After leaving the revolving bandstand in his electric “cart,” I introduced the three of them to one of my favorite jazz musicians. I hope they never forget the moment, as I have not. Kit Menkin
http://www.nw-cybermall.com/jazzworld/c-basie.htm
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artist_id_basie_count.htm
http://www.duke.edu/~ymm/basi.html
http://www.harlem.org/people/basie.html
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0821.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/jazz/dbasie.htm
    1986 – “5150,” the first Van Halen album to feature Sammy Hagar, tops the charts for the first of four weeks. The album is named after the New York police code for the criminally insane and Eddie Van Halen's recording studio.
    1987 - Twenty-two cities in the central and western U.S. reported new record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 83 degrees at Astoria, OR smashed their previous record by 13 degrees. Sacramento, CA hit 94 degrees.
    1987 - Tennis star Chris Evert won her 150th career tennis tournament. She beat Martina Navratilova in Houston, Texas.
http://www.chrisevert.org/
    1988 - Top Hits
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” - Whitney Houston
“Devil Inside” - INXS
“Wishing Well” - Terence Trent D'Arby
“I'll Always Come Back” - K.T. Oslin
    1988 - “China Beach” premiered on TV. The stories revolved around the lives of the women serving at a Da Nang armed forces hospital during the Vietnam War. The theme and background music of the series evoked plenty of nostalgia from the turbulent era. The ABC drama was created by William Boyles, Jr, and John Sacret Young. The cast featured Dana Delany, Michael Boatman, Nancy Giles, Jeff Kober, Robert Picardo, Concetta Tomei, Brian Wimmer, Marg Helgenberger, Chloe Webb, Nan Woods, Megan Gallagher, Ned Vaughn and Ricki Lake.
    1988 - The Boston Bruins snapped a string of 18 straight Stanley Cup playoff series losses to the Montreal Canadiens, dating back to 1943, by ousting the Habs, four games to one. Boston used two goals each from Cam Neely and Steve Kasper and strong goaltending from Rejean Lemelin to defeat Montreal,4-1.
    1989 - Thirty-three cities in the central and southeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Afternoon highs of 91 degrees at Evansville, IN and Nashville, TN equaled April records. Thunderstorms produced severe weather from Iowa to Kentucky, with more than ninety reports of large hail and damaging winds. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 90 mph at Berwick, IA.
    1990 - Twenty-nine cities from the Carolinas to the Great Lakes Region and western New England reported record high temperatures for the date as readings soared into the 80s and lower 90s. Record high temperatures included 95 degrees at Baltimore, MD and 92 degrees at Allentown, PA. The record high of 89 degrees at Alpena, MI was the third out of six straight record highs for that location, and smashed their previous record for the date by ten degrees.
    1991 - Severe thunderstorms in the central U.S. spawned fifty-five tornadoes from northeastern Texas to Iowa and eastern Nebraska killing twenty-one persons. Early evening thunderstorms over south central Kansas spawned a violent (F-5) tornado which traveled 45 miles from southwest of Wichita to north of El Dorado. It killed seventeen persons, including thirteen at the Golden Spur Mobile Home Park in Andover. The tornado also caused $62 million damage to McConnell Air Force Base as it crossed the south side of Wichita.
    2000 - The St. Louis Cardinals set a Major League record by hitting 50 home runs in April. Homers by pitcher Rick Ankiel, Jim Edmonds and Fernando Tatis in the 7-0 victory over the Brewers help to break the mark established by the 1997 Indians with 49.
    2001 - Hideo Nomo just misses becoming the fifth pitcher since 1900 to hurl two no-hitters in a single season as former Gold Glove right fielder Darren Lewis just misses catching Torii Hunter's blooper in the top of the seventh inning. The hit, which many consider a questionable call by the scorer, is the only hit given up by the Red Sox right-hander in the 2-0 victory over the Twins.
    2001 - After 2 1/2-years in the post, Kevin Malone resigns as the general manager of the Dodgers. Despite having the league's largest payroll, Los Angeles has failed to make the playoffs during his tenure.
    2004 - Record heat hit the Bay Area with 91 reported in SF. 93 degrees was reported in San Jose.
    2005 - With three home runs during his first three trips to the plate, Alex Rodriguez becomes only the 11th Major Leaguer to bat in 10 or more runs in a game. The highest paid player in baseball history is one RBI shy of the American League record of 11, set by fellow Yankee Tony Lazzeri in 1936 and two short of the Major League mark of 12 shared by Jim Bottomley (1924) and Mark Whiten (1993) of the Cardinals.
    2010 – The Senate investigated Goldman Sachs, finding that they made billions of dollars at the expense of clients during the housing market collapse.
    2018 – Comedian/actor Bill Cosby was found guilty in Pennsylvania of sexual assault.  He has been accused by numerous women of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse and sexual misconduct.  The earliest incidents allegedly took place in the mid-1960s. The dates of the alleged incidents have spanned from 1965 to 2008 in ten U.S. states and in one Canadian province.  Following the allegations, numerous organizations severed ties with Cosby and revoked honors and titles previously awarded to him. Media organizations pulled reruns of “The Cosby Show” and other television programs featuring Cosby from syndication. Twenty-five colleges and universities rescinded honorary degrees.
    2019 - "No religion" tops survey of American religious identity for the first time at 23.1% edging out Catholics 23.0% and evangelicals 22.5%, in long-running General Social Survey.
NBA Champions:
    1966 - Boston Celtics