Post a Position Wanted

Free Career Positon Wanted goes into our Classified Ad section here 
http://leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

It also runs once a week in the News Edition.

Use your personal email address only. We encourage you to add a resume, although not necessary. If you do so, please make sure your name, address and telephone number are not included. If so, we will delete them. The reason is once the resume is placed on line: it remains in Google, as well in Leasing News Editions’ archives. A search of your name will bring up your posting, which will have your address and telephone number for years to come.

It is also a good idea to create an email for the ad specifically that you can delete after use.

This is “free” to those looking for a new position. Each ad is limited to (100) words.

To post your free position wanted, please email: kitmenkin@leasingnews.org. 

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ELFA Legal Forum San Diego, California Report
By Barry S. Marks, Esq., CLFP, Leasing News Legal Editor

One of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s most popular events, the Legal Forum is a good indicator of the mood of our industry.

Over 285 legal professionals attended this year, and the positive attitude of industry leaders was reflected in the overall good humor and upbeat mood of the speakers and attendees.

This year’s Forum covered recent cases, both good and bad. At the federal level, the Association continues to focus on tax reform and limiting the reach of intrusive legislation, such as Section 1071 of the Dodd Frank law.

On the state level, there has been a great deal of activity, with ELFA’s Scott Riehl leading a committee of member lawyers opposing unfavorable legislation.

ELFA President Ralph Petta kicked off the General Session with a report on the Association’s prediction of a modest slowdown in capital expenditures and financing. We are a $1 Trillion dollar industry.

This year’s winners of the Edward Groobert for contribution to legal service to equipment leasing and finance are Andy Alper and Margaret Krumholz.

Breakout sessions covered cutting edge issues such as blockchain and novel contract structures as well as standard fare such as syndications, insurance and vendor program agreements.

Barry S. Marks, CLFP
Marks & Associates, P.C.
400 Century Park South, Suite 100
Birmingham, AL 35226
Mailing Address: PO BOX 1138
Birmingham, AL 35202
Tel: (205) 251-8303
Fax: (205) 278-8905
Email: barry@leaselawyer.com
www.leaselawyer.com

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Leasing News Complaints Bulletin Board 
BBB Ratings

The following companies appear on the Leasing News “Complaints” Bulletin Board:
http://www.leasingnews.org/bulletin_board.htm

Also may appear on Evergreen Abuse List
Ability Capital Solutions, Long Beach, California: C-
  Principal noted: Brian Acosta, also principal of Matrix Business Capital
Balboa Capital, Costa Mesa, California: A
  Balboa 25 negative reviews, 1 positive review, 1 neutral review
  “Our commitment to fast, dependable funding and great service has helped us achieve full    accreditation with the Better Business Bureau.” But they don’t mention the A- on    https://www.balboacapital.com/
Blue Bridge Financial, LLC, Buffalo, New York: A+
De Lage Landen, Wayne, Pennsylvania: A+
Integrity Financial Groups, Midvale, Utah C-
Jules and Associates, Los Angeles, California  A+ 
Leasing Innovations, Inc., Solano Beach, CA  A+
Liberty Capital, Aliso Viejo, California  N/R
MAC Financial Services, Scottsdale, Arizona: A+
Marlin Leasing, Mount Laurel, New Jersey A+
Jules and Associates, Los Angeles, California  A+
Matrix Business Capital, Long Beach, California: B-
  Principal noted: Brian Acosta, also principal of Ability Capital Solutions
Mazuma Capital Corporation, Draper, Utah A+
Newport Financial Partners, Newport Beach, California: N/R
Onset Financial, South Jordan, Utah A+
Platinum Financial, Orange, California  NR
Proviso Financial Services, Coquitlam, British Columbia: N/R
Radiance Capital, Tacoma, Washington  A+
Tetra Financial Group, Salt Lake City, Utah A+
US Business Funding, Santa Ana, California: A+

BBB Leasing & Alt. Finance Company Ratings
May 1, 2019

To list your company in the next listing, please email rating to kitmenkin@leasingnews.org

A number of companies have changed names, but this has not caught up with BBB.  Companies like Marlin and Allegiant Partners are listed under their previous name with their current ratings. Editor

Full List

A+ 

--Accredited 12/16/1997
21st Century Leasing, San Diego, California
http://www.bbb.org/san-diego/business-reviews/leasing-service/21st-century-leasing-in-san-diego-ca-10011418/

--Accredited 9/10/2000
Advantage Leasing Corporation Milwaukee, Wisconsin
http://www.bbb.org/wisconsin/business-reviews/leasing-service/advantage-leasing-corporation-in-milwaukee-wi-1004216/

--Accredited 4/01/2002
Allegiant Partners, Walnut Creek, California (now AP Financing Financing)
http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/leasing-service/allegiant-partners-incorporated-in-san-rafael-ca-46794

---Accredited 03/24/2017
Alliance Capital, Minneapolis, Minnesota
https://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/financial-services/alliance-capital-corporation-in-minneapolis-mn-96183545

--Accredited 1/22/1999
Alliance Funding Group, Orange, California
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/alliance-funding-group-inc-in-orange-ca-13096486

--Accredited 8/27/1999
Amur Equipment Finance, Inc., Grand Island, Nebraska
(Formerly Axis Capital)
http://www.bbb.org/nebraska/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/axis-capital-in-grand-island-ne-104008575

--Accredited 9/01/2008
Arvest Bank Leasing, Fayetteville, Arkansas
http://www.bbb.org/arkansas/business-reviews/banks/arvest-bank-in-sherwood-ar-5001142

Atel Capital, San Francisco
http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/equipment-rentals-and-sales/atel-in-san-francisco-ca-76975

Bankers Capital, Northborough, Massachusetts
http://www.bbb.org/central-western-massachusetts/business-reviews/financing/bankers-capital-in-northborough-ma-262264 

Biz2Credit, Inc ., New York, New York
https://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/loans-small-business/biz2credit-inc-in-new-york-ny-102540

---Accredited since 12/15/2014
Blue Bridge Financial, Buffalo, New York
https://www.bbb.org/upstate-new-york/business-reviews/financing/blue-bridge-financial-llc-in-buffalo-ny-235977013/

Bluevine, Redwood City, California
https://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/financial-services/bluevine-capital-inc-in-redwood-city-ca-875531

BSB Leasing, Englewood, Colorado
http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/financial-services/b-s-b-leasinginc-in-englewood-co-26029 

---Accredited since 12/14/1998
CAN Capital New York City
https://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-reviews/financial-services/can-capital-in-kennesaw-ga-13000248

---Accredited since 6/03/2011
Channel Partners, Maple Grove, Minnesota
http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/financing-consultants/channel-partners-in-maple-grove-mn-96298573

--Accredited 6/20/1996
Charter Capital, Scottsdale, Arizona
http://www.bbb.org/central-northern-western-arizona/business-reviews/leasing-service/charter-capital-in-scottsdale-az-89000861/

---Accredited since 7/23/2013
CMS Funding, Wayne, New Jersey
http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/loans/cms-funding-in-wayne-nj-90159003

--Accredited 4/6/2010
Cornerstone Medical & Technology Finance, Lees Summit, Missouri
http://www.bbb.org/kansas-city/business-reviews/financial-services/cornerstone-medical-and-technology-finance-in, -lees-summit-mo-99153606

CSI Leasing, St. Louis, Missouri
http://www.bbb.org/stlouis/business-reviews/computers-dealers/cs-i-leasing-in-saint-louis-mo-110207320 

---Accredited since 11/07/2016
Currency Capital, LLC., Los Angeles, California
https://www.bbb.org/losangelessiliconvalley/business-reviews/consumer-finance-and-loan-companies/currency-capital-in-los-angeles-ca-641996

Dakota Financial, LLC., Los Angeles, California
http://www.bbb.org/sanjose/business-reviews/loans-small-business/dakota-financial-in-los-angeles-ca-13177252

De Lage Landen Financial Services, Incorporated, Wayne, Pennsylvania
http://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/business-reviews/financing/de-lage-landen-financial-services-incorporated-in-wayne-pa-80012304/

--Accredited 07/29/2015
Direct Capital, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (now a CIT Bank company)
http://www.bbb.org/concord/business-reviews/financial-services/direct-capital-corporation-in-portsmouth-nh-3004519#

Equilease Financial Services, Norwalk, CT (who were purchased by North Mill Equipment Finance, a subsidiary of Colford Capital. Colford Capital was recently sold to Solar Senior Capital LTD).
http://www.bbb.org/connecticut/business-reviews/financial-services/equilease-financial-service-in-norwalk-ct-1003628

--Accredited 3/10/2011
Financial Pacific, Federal Way, Washington
http://www.bbb.org/western-washington/business-reviews/consumer-finance-and-loan/financial-pacific-leasing-in-federal-way-wa-22025327

First Federal Leasing, Richmond, Indiana
https://www.bbb.org/indy/business-reviews/banks/first-federal-leasing-in-richmond-in-12000771

---Accredited since 01/20/2011
Fora Financial, New York, New York
https://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/financial-services/fora-financial-llc-in-new-york-ny-122049

---Accredited since 04/29/2014
FundBox, San Francisco, California
https://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/financial-services/fundbox-inc-in-san-francisco-ca-462656

---Accredited since 12/03/2013
Forward Finance, Boston, Mass.
https://www.bbb.org/boston/business-reviews/financing/forward-financing-llc-in-boston-ma-133112\\

---Accredited since 11/07/2016
Fundera, New York, New York
https://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/loans/fundera-in-new-york-ny-162542

---Accredited since 12/23/2013
Funding Circle USA, Inc.
https://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/small-business-loans/funding-circle-usa-inc-in-san-francisco-ca-456720

--Accredited 12/27/2010
Great America Leasing, Cedar Rapid, Iowa
http://www.bbb.org/iowa/business-reviews/financing/great-america-leasing-in-cedar-rapids-ia-20000104

---Accredited since 01/31/2014
Kabbage, Atlanta, Georgia
https://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-reviews/loans-small-business/kabbage-in-atlanta-ga-27469815

--Accredited 8/19/2011
iFinancial Group, San Clemente, California
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/leasing-service/ifinancial-group-inc-in-san-clemente-ca-13077753

---Accredited since 7/29/2013
Innovative Leasing Services, Inc. Carlsbad, California
http://www.bbb.org/san-diego/business-reviews/leasing-service/innovative-lease-services-inc-in carlsbad-ca-10008827/

--Accredited 7/20/2011
Jules & Associates, Los Angeles, California
http://www.bbb.org/sanjose/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/jules-and-associates-in-los-angeles-ca-92003291

---Accredited 1/2/1993
Key Equipment Finance aka KeyBank Headquarters Location 
http://www.bbb.org/cleveland/business-reviews/banks/keybank-in-cleveland-oh-6747

--Accredited 5/9/2003
Lease Corporation of America, Troy, Michigan
http://www.bbb.org/eastern-michigan/business-reviews/computers-software-and-services/lease-corporation-of-america-in-troy-mi-45000151/

---Accredited 12/11/2012
LeaseQ, Inc., Burlington, Massachusetts
https://www.bbb.org/boston/business-reviews/financing-consultants/leaseq-inc-in-burlington-ma-130886

Lease $mart, Ocala, Florida (Tucson, Arizona)
http://www.bbb.org/tucson/business-reviews/leasing-service/lease-mart-in-tucson-az-6762 

 --Accredited 6/14/2001
Leasing Innovations, Inc., Solano Beach, California
 http://www.bbb.org/san-diego/business-reviews/financial-services/leasing-innovations-inc-in-solana-beach-ca-19005998  

Manufacturers' Lease Plans, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona
http://www.bbb.org/central-northern-western-arizona/business-reviews/leasing-service/manufacturers-lease-plans-inc-in-phoenix-az-88000426

Mazuma Capital Corp., Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/contractor-equipment-and-supply-rental-and-leasing-companies/mazuma-capital-in-draper-ut-22214565

---Accredited 2/22/2011
Marlin Leasing, Mount Laurel, New Jersey
http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/business-consultants/marlin-leasing-in-mt-laurel-nj-80012102 

---Accredited 02/14/2013
National Funding, San Diego, California
https://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/financial-services/national-funding-inc-in-san-diego-ca-172005860 

---Accredited 8/12/2010
Navitas Lease Finance Corp., Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
http://www.bbb.org/north-east-florida/business-reviews/financial-services/navitas-lease-finance-corp-in-ponte-vedra-beach-fl-125716478/

---Accredited since 08/09/2007
North Mill Capital, LLC, Minneapolis, Minnesota
http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/loans-small-business/north-mill-capital-in-minneapolis-mn-96063541

---Accredited since 05/08/2008
OnDeck, New York City
https://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/financial-services/on-deck-capital-inc-in-new-york-ny-101780

Onset Financial, South Jordan, Utah 
 http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/financial-services/onset-financial-in-south-jordan-ut-403

Orion First Financial, Gig Harbor, Washington
http://www.bbb.org/western-washington/business-reviews/consumer-finance-and-loan-companies/orion-first-financial-in-gig-harbor-wa-37003864

P&L Capital, Omaha, Nebraska
http://www.bbb.org/nebraska/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/p-and-l-capital-in-omaha-ne-104006668

Padco Financial Services, Inc., Crete, Illinois
https://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/leasing-services/padco-financial-services-inc-in-crete-il-88466390

Pawnee Leasing, Fort Collins, Colorado
http://www.bbb.org/wyoming-and-northern-colorado/business-reviews/leasing-companies/pawnee-leasing-corporation-in-fort-collins-co-46006417

Platinum Financial, Orange, California
http://www.bbb.org/san-diego/business-reviews/financial-services/platinum-financial-oc-in-orange-ca-100120358

---Accredited since 08/21/2007
Portfolio Financial Servicing Company, Portland, Oregon
http://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-reviews/financial-services/portfolio-financial-servicing-company-in-portland-or-22140131

---Accredited 8/20/2009
Providence Capital Funding, Brea, California
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/providence-capital-funding-inc-in-brea-ca-100085193

Radiance Capital, Tacoma, Washington
http://www.bbb.org/western-washington/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/radiance-capital-in-tacoma-wa-22227403

---Accredited 9/07/2010
RapidAdvance, Bethesda, Maryland
https://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/business-reviews/loans-small-business/rapid-financial-services-llc-in-bethesda-md-152838509 

Reliant Funding, Redwood City, California
https://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/financial-services/reliant-funding-in-san-diego-ca-171988509

Somerset Capital Group, Milford, Connecticut
http://www.bbb.org/connecticut/business-reviews/leasing-service/somerset-capital-group-in-bridgeport-ct-1001573

Steelcase Financial Services, Grand Rapids, Michigan
http://www.bbb.org/western-michigan/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-wholesale-and-mfg/steelcase-in-grand-rapids-mi-14000824

---Accredited 3/11/2015
Strada Capital Corporation, Laguna Hills, California
(BBB report being updated.  Note: Brad Kissler, founder is now Executive Vice President, Current, Los Angeles, California
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/strada-capital-corporation-in-laguna-hills-ca-100005606

---Accredited 12/19/2007
Summit Funding Group, Cincinnati, Ohio
http://www.bbb.org/cincinnati/business-reviews/financing/summit-funding-group-inc-in-cincinnati-oh-1206757/    

---Accredited since 07/15/2010
Swift Capital, Wilmington, Delaware
https://www.bbb.org/delaware/business-reviews/financial-services/swift-capital-in-wilmington-de-24000267

Taycor Financial, Los Angeles, California
http://www.bbb.org/sanjose/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/taycor-financial-in-los-angeles-ca-13125882

TCF Equipment Finance, Minnetonka, Minnesota
http://www.bbb.org/minnesota/business-reviews/consumer-finance-and-loan-companies/tcf-equipment-finance-in-minnetonka-mn-96072521

--Accredited since 5/2/2015
Tetra Financial Group, Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/credit-services/tetra-financial-group-in-salt-lake-city-ut-22186390

TimePayment Corporation
http://www.bbb.org/boston/Business-Reviews/leasing-service/timepayment-corp-in-burlington-ma-117288/bbb-rating

United Leasing, Evansville, Indiana
http://www.bbb.org/evansville/business-reviews/leasing-companies/united-leasing-in-evansville-in-99475

--Accredited 2/19/2016
US Business Funding, Santa Ana, California
(13 closed complaints, now reduced) 
http://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/leasing-service/us-business-funding-in-santa-ana-ca-100094667

Varilease Finance, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/credit-services/varilease-finance-in-salt-lake-city-ut-22165465

A

--Accredited since 12/13/1999
Balboa Capital Corporation, Costa Mesa, California  
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/loans-small-business/balboa-capital-corporation-in-irvine-ca-13126386

A-

LEAF Financial Corporation, Philadelphia, PA
http://www.bbb.org/washington-dc-eastern-pa/business-reviews/financial-services/leaf-financial-corporation-in-philadelphia-pa-55049028/
The reasons, according to BBB: "Failure to respond to a complaint--no reviews."

---Accredited since 01/01/2008
Lending Club, San Francisco, California
https://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/financial-services/lendingclub-corporation-in-san-francisco-ca-361746
33 positive reviews/77 negative reviews.  BBB notes in detail the case with Federal Trade Commission; Lending Club defends, saying the complaints are due to others operating under the name Lending Club and loans do not proceed; do not involve their company.

Southern California Leasing, Tustin, California
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/computers-rent-and-lease/southern-california-leasing-incorporated-in-tustin-ca-13135867  BBB states reason:  Failure to be transparent about ownership, location, or products/services offered. No Reviews.   Company has 14 good reviews via Google, website nots member of Certified Women's Business Enterprise, members  of two leasing associations, notes established 1992, President is Barbara Griffith, well-known in the industry with  many accolades, with many testimonies, going back to when the company was founded (a lot of repeat business.)

Susquehanna Commercial Finance, Pottstow Southern California Leasing, Tustin, California
http://www.bbb.org/orange-county/business-reviews/computers-rent-and-lease/southern-california-leasing-incorporated-in-tustin-ca-13135867

B-

Matrix Business Capital, Long Beach, California
http://www.bbb.org/sanjose/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-rental-and-leasing/matrix-business-capital-in-long-beach-ca-100041782

C

Ability Capital Solutions, Long Beach, California
http://www.bbb.org/sanjose/business-reviews/leasing-service/ability-capital-solutions-in-long-beach-ca-100046803  Principal noted: Brian Acosta, also principal of Matrix Business Capital

C-

Integrity Financial Groups, Midvale, Utah (Many Complaints in Leasing News, Dallin Hawkins, Principal, BK,  vendors not paid, deposits not returned).
http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/financing-consultants/integrity-financial-groups-llc-in-midvale-ut-22293260

F

Newport Financial Partners, Newport Beach, California
https://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/leasing-service/newport-financial-partners-llc-in-newport-beach-ca-172010666

 

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What Makes the Perfect Credit Manager?
Improved & Updated

www.credittoday.com
reprinted with permission

What would be the attributes of the ideal credit manager? One veteran professional we know lists these:

• Being analytical and understanding the meaning of the figures that appear on financial statements. He or she should understand the data that created the figures and be able to compare different statements to discern a trend.
• Understanding federal, state and local laws that affect credit in his or her area. Reliance on UCC alone is not enough. It is possible that certain acts by the creditor will create liability in certain jurisdictions.
• Being a good negotiator. He or she should be people-oriented and have a genuine interest in working with people.
• Being an independent thinker, able to reach a sound decision based on facts. The ideal credit manager is not someone who is dependent on the attitudes of others toward a particular customer.
• Being able to work with the hand that is dealt--in other words, he or she must learn to accept situations as they are and work from there. Wishful thinking never changed anything.
• Being aware of environmental issues. If a customer is harming the environment, and you sell the company products, you could be liable for any environmental clean-up that might arise.
• Being a take-charge person. Just like Harry Truman, the credit manager should believe that, as far as credit is concerned, the buck stops here. No group decisions!
• Having integrity. Business ethics have come in for heavy criticism in recent years, and it behooves the credit manager to see that his or her reputation is above reproach.
• Being a deal maker - someone who can take a hodgepodge of seemingly unrelated facts and craft a credit decision that will allow the company to make a doubtful sale, and collect what is due, when it's due.
• Being a good actor - one able to take on whatever character is necessary to impress customers and convince them that he or she is their most reliable source of help in time of need.

Addendum


Bob Shultz

After reading the above, our old friend and Credit Today Member Bob Shultz, one of the smartest and most thorough credit professionals we've had the pleasure to run into, wrote to us that he agreed with all of the above. But he added "There are some updates missing, relevant to today's world." We agree. We suppose we'll call this "The Perfect Credit Manager of the 2020s..."

• Be forward thinking: Always be scanning and advocating the leverage of new technologies and ways to add efficiency and effectiveness to your role.
• Think like your boss: Be aware of the true needs of your company. Understand marketing and product strategies, financial objectives, and the competitive environment.

Be a process improvement leader.

• Expand your horizons: Have a working understanding of customer financing options, risk mitigation techniques, the treasury function and banking, as it affects your role.
• Be a process improvement leader: Work with other stakeholders cross-functionally for the benefit of the company and customer satisfaction.
• Be an active networker: Benefit from the experience of others. Develop "go to" resources and reciprocate.
• Be interactive with external and internal customers and staff: Routinely visit with your customers, listen. Take proactive actions when needed. Also, continuously communicate with other stakeholders and your staff, listen and support their daily efforts.
• Continue your education: Supplement your experience with formal training, and certifications. This both adds to your credibility, and to the value you bring your company.

What would you add to the above list?
To learn more about subscription, please go to:
http://www.credittoday.net/public/10.cfm 

 

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 In 2018, total global military expenditure rose 2.6 percent to $1.8 trillion, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). It has reached its highest level since 1988 as well as being 76 percent higher than the post-cold war low of 1998. U.S. military spending grew for the first time in seven years, climbing to $649 billion due to new procurement projects from the Trump administration. No other country comes close to matching U.S. spending and it is nearly as much as the next eight-largest spending countries combined.

Despite increasing its defense budget for the 24th year in succession, China came a distant second for military spending last year with an estimated $250 billion - nearly ten times as much as it spent in 1994. Saudi Arabia came third for military spending ($68 billion), followed by India ($67 billion) and France ($64 billion). When it comes to military budgets as a share of GDP, however, the situation is very different indeed.

Despite a $4.6 billion decrease in spending last year, the military still accounted for 8.8 percent of Saudi Arabia's GDP in 2018, the highest share of any country in SIPRI's analysis. By contrast, the $649 billion spent by Washington "only" accounted for 3.2 percent of U.S. GDP. Elsewhere, Russia's increases in spending on its armed forces pushed its share to 3.9 percent while Germany's was just 1.2 percent. President Trump has consistently criticized Germany's low level of expenditure, given that NATO calls on its members to dedicate 2 percent of their GDP on defense. So far, only six European governments are above that threshold.

By Niall McCarthy, Statistia
https://www.statista.com/chart/3591/the-biggest-military-budgets-as-a-percentage-of-gdp/ 

 

 

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

Shawn Halladay to Discuss CECL Strategies
at Bloomberg Tax and Deloitte Conference May 7

GLENBROOK, NV,  Shawn Halladay, Managing Director of The Alta Group consultancy and head of  its Professional Development Practice, states, “As U.S. finance companies prepare for major changes in accounting requirements for calculating credit losses, they can benefit from hard lessons learned by international equipment finance businesses that have already tackled similar new standards.”

Mr. Halladay will discuss implementation strategies for the current expected credit losses (CECL) accounting standard on a panel at Bloomberg Tax and Deloitte’s Financial Instruments: The Way Forward conference May 7 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The conference is designed to help chief financial officers, controllers, financial accountants, auditors, analysts, and other professionals prepare for new accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), not only ASC 326 on financial instruments, which includes CECL, but also the new hedge accounting standard ASC 815.

Halladay will speak as part of the 10 a.m. panel on “Key Implementation Activities: A Timeline” along with Michael Jacobs, lead quantitative analytics and modeling expert for PNC; Marie J. Robles, vice president and controller of Northwest Federal Credit Union; Troy Vollertsen, partner and U.S. banking audit practice leader for Deloitte & Touche LLP; and moderator Alexey Smurov, senior vice president of PNC.

CECL represents a significant shift in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for credit losses. Instead of calculating incurred losses, U.S. finance companies will have to estimate expected credit losses up front and adjust them over the life of the loan, lease or other financial instrument. CECL’s effective dates for calendar-year companies are Jan. 1, 2020 for public businesses that are SEC filers, and Jan. 1, 2021 for all other organizations. 

Halladay notes, “International equipment leasing companies implemented similar changes last year as part of IFRS 9 (International Financial Reporting Standard 9).

“My comments will address the commonalities between IFRS 9 and CECL, and lessons learned from the implementation challenges that international lessors experienced, such as properly assessing loss given default.,”

Halladay’s career as an equipment leasing and finance professional, trainer, consultant, auditor, author and speaker spans more than 40 years. His areas of consulting expertise include accounting, tax law and analysis. He is a member of the Financial Accounting Committee of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.

About The Alta Group

The Alta Group is the leading global consultancy dedicated exclusively to the business of equipment leasing and asset finance. Since 1992, Alta has represented equipment leasing and finance companies, vendor/captive finance organizations, financial institutions, manufacturers and service providers, offering counsel on strategy and competitive alignment, asset management, business quality assurance, digital business transformations, legal services, mergers and acquisitions, and professional development. For information on the group’s services in the United States and Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, China, and Asia Pacific, visit www.thealtagroup.com and follow us on Twitter @thealtagroupllc.

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

German Shepherd
San Diego, California   Adopt-a-Dog

Titan
#244855
Male
2 Years, 4 months
58.5 lbs.
Adoption Fee: $95.00

How I arrived:
I was brought in by my previous owner on April 10, 2019.

At SDHS:
I have been vaccinated, micro-chipped and neutered. I'm now ready for my new home!

Why I am the one for you:
My Personality Color Code is Orange; meaning I'm Vivacious... enthusiastic... bubbly... vibrant...and cheerful!! Hi, I'm Titan! I may seem like a force to be reckoned with, but I promise I'm a total sweetheart! I have a lot of extra energy that I don't really know what to do with, so I would do best with someone who will take me on lots of high-intensity adventures and make me part of the family. I'll also need to continue working on my positive reinforcement training. If you have another dog, I'd love to meet them first before going home with you. Are you looking for a little excitement in your life? Come meet me today!

I’M CURRENTLY LOCATED AT:
San Diego Campus
5500 Gaines Street
San Diego, CA 92110
619.299.7012
info@sdhumane.org

My adoption fee includes my spay/neuter, current vaccinations, permanent microchip identification, a certificate for a free veterinary exam, waived enrollment fee for medical insurance from PetFirst, and a license for residence in the city limits of Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, Escondido, Imperial Beach, Oceanside, Poway, San Diego, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach and Vista.

This website is live and updates frequently, there is chance that when you arrive at our location the animal you have an interest in might have been adopted or another party might be going through the adoption process at that present time. Please note the Animal ID and bring it with you.

[headlines]
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Call for Presentations

Entries must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 pm EST, Wednesday, June 28, 2019
https://tools.eventpower.com/speaker_management/index/19ELFA-ANNUAL

“Your proposal will be carefully reviewed by a committee of your peers. If selected, you will be invited to make a presentation or lead a roundtable discussion at one of several time slots scheduled for Monday, October 28th or Tuesday, October 29th.

“Please read this information thoroughly before submitting your proposal.

“ELFA anticipates that once again we will receive more proposals than presentations slots available. Please avoid submitting proposals that have too narrow an audience; proposals that have a substantially wider appeal will be given priority. In addition, please keep in mind, ELFA is committed to gender and ethnic diversity representation among session presenters. And most important: do not submit proposals that appear to be selling a product or supplying a service.”

Session Topic Ideas/Issues of High Priority
plus Complete Information on Presentations
https://www.elfaonline.org/events/2019/ac/call

News Briefs----

New York Officials Are Still Reaping Millions
      From Predatory Lenders
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-30/new-york-officials-still-reaping-millions-from-predatory-lenders

Vodafone found hidden backdoors in Huawei equipment,
    says report
https://www.cnet.com/news/british-carrier-vodafone-found-hidden-backdoors-in-huawei-equipment-says-report/ 

Ryder Reports Record First Quarter 2019 Revenue
    of $2.2 Billion, Up 15%
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ryder-reports-record-first-quarter-115500902.html

Trade war and sagging prices push U.S. family farmers
     to leave the field
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-retirement-insight/trade-war-and-sagging-prices-push-u-s-family-farmers-to-leave-the-field-idUSKCN1S613U

 

 

[headlines]
--------------------------------------------------------------

You May Have Missed---

Apple Plans to Buy $75 Billion More of Its Own Stock
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/technology/apple-stock-buyback-quarterly-results.html

 

[headlines]
--------------------------------------------------------------

Basketball Practice 
Justin G.

"AGAIN!"
I sprint to the end of the court
my legs cutting through the oppressive air,
desperately trying to reach the endline.

"AGAIN!"
I take off, this time not as fast
wondering why I bother to give up
two hours each night to be commanded
like a remote control car.

"FIFTEEN FOUL SHOTS"
I walk slowly to the line
happy for the time to catch my breath.
I pick up the ball and begin.

"BACK ON THE LINE!"
Again I sprint to the end of the court
mouth wide open
sweat dripping from my face.

"AGAIN!"
As I run up the court
for what I hope will be the last time tonight,
I glance over my shoulder
to see my coach, red-faced and grinning,
remote control
gleaming in his hand.

by J. G., Houlton, ME

[headlines]
--------------------------------------------------------------

Sports Briefs---

The ‘Dumb Choice’ That James Harden, Stephen Curry
 and the Rest of the N.B.A. Increasingly Avoid: The 2-Point Shot
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/30/upshot/harden-rockets-curry-warriors-three-pointers.html

[headlines]
--------------------------------------------------------------

California Nuts Briefs---

Google promises affordable housing near San Jose’s Diridon Station
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/04/29/google-promises-affordable-housing-near-diridon/

The secret HQ2: How Amazon quietly raised
a San Francisco Bay Area army of engineers
https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/The-secret-HQ2-How-Amazon-quietly-raised-a-Bay-13796775.php

Federal aid finally on the way to Northern California
  for 2015 Dungeness crab disaster
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/9546993-181/federal-aid-finally-on-the

[headlines]
--------------------------------------------------------------

“Gimme that Wine”

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

7-Eleven Launches Beer Delivery in 18 Cities
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/7-eleven-beer-delivery

Amazon Ramps up Wine Sales
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2019/04/amazon-ramps-up-wine-sales

The Future Is Bright for Texas Wine
https://www.winespectator.com/blogs/show/id/Future-Is-Bright-For-Texas-Wine

The World's Most Wanted Malbecs
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2019/04/the-world-s-most-wanted-malbecs

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

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

US/International Wine Events
http://www.localwineevents.com/

Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page
http://two.leasingnews.org/Recommendations/wnensprts.htm

This Day in History

     1594 – John Haynes (d. 1653/4), the first Governor of the Connecticut Colony, was born in Essex, England.  Haynes was influential in the drafting of laws and legal frameworks in both Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies. He was on the committee that drafted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which has been called one of the first written constitutions. He also invested most of his fortune in Connecticut, "to the ruine of his famylye in Englande."
    1764 – Architect Benjamin Latrobe (d. 1820), the designer of the US Capitol building, was born in Leeds, England.
    1795 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawai’i, defeated Kalanikupule and established the Kingdom of Hawai’i with the unification of the independent islands of Hawai’i, O’ahu, Maui, Moloka’i and Lana’i under one government.  The kingdom won recognition from major European powers. The US became its chief trading partner, and the kingdom was watched jealously lest Britain, Japan, or another power threaten to seize control.
    1830 - Birthday of Mary Harris Jones (d. 1930) at Cork, Ireland.  Better known as “Mother Jones,” the American labor leader, after the death of her husband and four children (during the Memphis yellow fever epidemic of 1867) and loss of her belongings in the Chicago Fire in 1871, Jones devoted her energies and her life to organizing and advancing the cause of labor. It seemed she was present wherever there were labor troubles. She gave her last speech on her 100th birthday. In 1923, at the age of ninety-three, she was still working among striking coal miners in West Virginia. A passionate organizer, she counted among her more spectacular achievements the leading of a march of miners’ wives who routed strikebreakers with brooms and mops in the Pennsylvania coalfields in 1902, and the leading of a march of striking child textile workers from Kensington, Pennsylvania, to President Theodore Roosevelt’s Long Island home in 1903 to dramatize the case for abolition of child labor. In 1905, she helped found the Industrial Workers of the World. 
http://www.johnshepler.com/articles/mojo.html
http://www.mojones.com/info/maryharris.html
    1841 – The first emigrant wagon train left Independence, Missouri, for California.
    1850 - The "Panama" sailed from San Francisco with $1,500,156 in gold dust destined for the East.
    1850 – The first Mayor of San Francisco was John Geary.  Originally known as Yerba Buena, the city name was changed to San Francisco in 1847.
    1852 - Birthday of Martha Jane (Calamity Jane) Canary (d. 1903) in Princeton, MO.  U.S. frontierswoman and stagecoach driver.  She joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and has been romanticized in movies, fiction stories, and legends. She was reportedly rough mannered (with most people of the place and era) and, as was also common in those days for women without the protection of one man, was a prostitute of sorts. She frequented bars, was rumored (mostly disproved) to have driven stagecoaches, but she was a crack shot. It is believed that she began roaming the mining areas after she was orphaned at 15. She toured with several Wild West shows including Buffalo Bill's. She often dressed in men's clothing (also not a particularly unusual thing in the pioneer west for active and poor women). According to some legends (told mostly by herself), she scouted for the army including Col. George Custer. She went to the Black Hills of South Dakota with a geological expedition and stayed in Deadwood after the gold strike there. There she became a companion to Wild Bill Hickock although a rumored marriage probably never took place. The name "Calamity" has been variously explained as being derived from her care of patients during a smallpox epidemic or warnings to men who felt a single woman alone was a plaything to be used as they would. She eventually moved to El Paso and married (maybe). She had a habit of referring to her male companions as husbands. She exhibited herself in some shows following depictions of her as a romantic character in the dime novels of the day. Living in abject poverty for many years, she eventually traveled back to South Dakota where she died in 1903 and was buried next to Wild Bill Hickock.
http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/cana-mar.htm
http://www.cowgirls.com/dream/cowgals/calamity.htm
http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_calamity_jane.htm
http://www.watermargin.com/graves/wildbill.html
    1855 - When nationally known public speaker and feminist Lucy Stone married Henry Blackwell, a marriage contract written by the bride and groom was read at the wedding that disavowed the gross inequity married women suffered under American law, and the word “obey” was omitted from their marriage vows. A year after the ceremony, the bride further shocked society by taking back her maiden name, which she kept for the rest of her life.
http://ads.addynamix.com/creative/2-2127570-1i?
http://www.lucystoneleague.org/
    1855 - Birthday of Cecilia Beaux (d. 1942) in Philadelphia.  As an artist, she is generally recognized as the leading U.S. portrait painter of her day. Her first paintings, those of her family, won prizes in the U.S. and Paris. She was elected to the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts (Paris) and the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1933). Her paintings are in major museums throughout the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. An injury cut short her career. One historian wrote:  “In 1895 she became the first woman instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and in 1896, on the strength of her showing at the Paris Salon, she was elected to membership in the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts.” Cecilia Beaux moved to New York City in 1900. Later major works included commissioned portraits of Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and her daughter Ethel, Mary Adelaide Nutting (for the Johns Hopkins Hospital), Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, Richard Watson Gilder, and, for the National Art Committee's project on World War I leaders, Adm. Lord David Beatty, Georges Clemenceau, and Cardinal Mercier. "Her paintings were placed in such major collections as the National Collection of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Luxembourg Museum of Paris, and the Uffizi Gallery of Florence. Her work, while it suggested at times the influence of some of her French Impressionist teachers, and at other times was compared to that of John Singer Sargent, was not imitative of any master." Some of her work is also exhibited at the Women's Museum of Art in Washington, D.C.
http://www.butlerart.com/pc_book/pages/cecilia_beaux_1855.htm
http://www.artrenewal.org/museum/b/Beaux_Cecilia/page1.html
http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=731567&c=&search=Beaux
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/beaux_cecilia.html    
    1862 - Capt. David G. Farragut and Union forces took possession of New Orleans after running past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River at night and then defeating a small Confederate flotilla. In its 19 months of service, the Hartford was hit 240 times by enemy fire. Farragut was promoted to Rear Admiral in July.
http://www.nps.gov/vick/visctr/sitebltn/farragut.htm
http://www.us-civilwar.com/farragut.htm
    1863 - At the battle of Chancellorsville, 50 miles southwest of Washington, DC., Gen. Robert E. Lee won his greatest victory over huge Union forces under Gen. Joseph Hooker. The battles lasted for four days. In the North, 17,275 were killed or wounded; in the South, 12,821. Here is a good piece of trivia, General Hooker allowed his troops to bring “ladies of the evening” into camp, and many also traveled with his troops. They were called “Hookers” and they are so known today.
http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/va032.htm
http://www.nps.gov/frsp/cville.htm
http://www.bergen.org/civilwar/defense/chnclee.html
http://www.war-art.com/chancellorsville.htm
http://www.civilwarhome.com/chancell.htm
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/gettysburg/intro/chance.htm
http://www.collectorsnet.com/cwtimes/chancell.htm
    1864 - Birthday of Anna M. Jarvis (d. 1948) in Webster, WV.  She is the founder of Mother's Day.  After many women had attempted to have a special day set aside to honor mothers after the U.S. Civil War, Jarvis was successful in having the second Sunday of May set aside to do so. By 1913, every state in the Union established the observance and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution of Congress to officially recognize the day.  She was unalterably opposed the commercialization of the observance, wanting to keep it a pure and simple remembrance. A number of other women, including Julia Ward Howe had suggested Mother's Day, but none were successful until Jarvis's campaign, which started in Philadelphia in May, 1908 with the pink carnation being worn if the mother was alive and white in memorial. The observance was originally to be a renunciation of war, militarism, and the patriarchy that cost women their husbands and sons in the Civil War. Jarvis spent most of her declining years in attempt to keep the holiday pure from the inroads of florists, jewelers, and the like who made it a marketing circus. Here is the original, pre-Hallmark, Mother's Day Proclamation, penned in Boston by Julia Ward Howe in 1870.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvtaylor/founder.htm
    1866 – Race riots began in Memphis.  In three days’ time, 46 African-Americans and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
    1867 – Howard University in Washington, DC was established.  Shortly after the end of the Civil War, members of The First Congregational Society of Washington considered establishing a theological seminary for the education of African-American clergymen. Within a few weeks, the project expanded to include a provision for establishing a university. Within two years, the University consisted of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Medicine. The new institution was named for General Oliver O. Howard, a Civil War hero, who was both the founder of the University and, at the time, Commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Howard later served as President of the university from 1869–74.  Congress chartered Howard on March 2, 1867, and much of its early funding came from endowment, private benefaction, and tuition. An annual congressional appropriation administered by the Department of Education funds Howard University and Howard University Hospital.
    1873 - Birthday of William Morris, born Zelman Moses (d. 1932) in in Schwarzenau, Germany.  Founder of the William Morris Agency. http://www.wma.com/
    1873 - Congress enacted the one cent postal card. The first cards were made by the Morgan Envelope Company, Springfield, MA. Stamp collectors state the first cancellation was May 12, 1873.
    1874 - Birthday of Romaine Brooks (d. 1970) in Rome.  U.S. artist whose palette of primary black, grey and brown produced amazingly insightful portraits. The daughter of an unstable mother and brother who became dangerously paranoid, she was sent away to various schools. Following their deaths, she inherited a fortune. She married for form's sake but lived openly as a lesbian, maintaining an on\off liaison for 40-years with the wandering Natalie Clifford Barney, noted U.S. expatriate writer. She continued to paint until her late 80s. The largest collection of her works can be viewed at the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC. http://www.satanic.org/~succubus/romaine.html
http://www.uwrf.edu/history/prints/women/brooks.html
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibits/brooks.html
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa636.htm
http://www.queerstudies.com/histories/b/brooks_romaine.htm
http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/women2/images/brooks_big.jpg
http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Brooks/BrooksChron.html
    1883 - "Buffalo Bill" Cody put on his first Wild West Show
    1884 - Construction was begun on the Home Insurance Company building in Chicago, IL on what was to become the modern skyscraper. The 10-story building was completed in 1885. Designed by William Le Baron Jenney, it had a steel frame which carried the weight of the building. The walls provided no support but hung like curtains on the metal frame. This method of construction revolutionized American architecture and allowed architects to build taller and taller buildings. This building was constructed of marble and flanked by four columns of polished granite supporting a marble balcony. Two additional stories were added to it later. The steel frame supported the entire weight of the walls, instead of the walls themselves carrying the weight of the building.
http://www.skyscrapers.com/english/worldmap/building
/0.9/102645/index.html
    1884 – Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first African-American to play in a professional baseball game in the United States.  Walker played one season as the catcher of the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association, then a Major League. He then played in the minor leagues until 1889, when professional baseball prohibited blacks from playing, a practice  that stood for nearly 60 years until the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson. After leaving baseball, Walker became a businessman and advocate of Black Nationalism.
    1884 - Proclamation by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States. Labor movement publications called for an eight-hour day as early as 1836. Boston ship carpenters, although not unionized, achieved an eight-hour day in 1842.  In 1864, the eight-hour day quickly became a central demand of the Chicago labor movement. The Illinois legislature passed a law in early 1867 granting an eight-hour day but had so many loopholes that it was largely ineffective. A citywide strike that began on 1 May 1867 shut down the city's economy for a week before collapsing.  On 25 June 1868, Congress passed an eight-hour law for federal employees. On 19 May 1869, President Ulysses Grant issued a National Eight Hour Law Proclamation.  The eight-hour day might have been realized for many working people in the US in 1937, when what became the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S. Code Chapter 8) was first proposed under the New Deal. As enacted, the act applied to industries whose combined employment represented about twenty percent of the US labor force. In those industries, it set the maximum workweek at 40 hours, but provided that employees working beyond 40 hours a week would receive additional overtime bonus salaries.
    1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade building opened.
    1886 - Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers’ Day in many countries.
    1889 – Bayer introduced aspirin in Germany in powder form.
    1891 – Cy Young pitched the first game in Cleveland’s new League Park, defeating the Cincinnati Redlegs, 12-3.
    1893 - The Columbian Exposition Opened at 12:08 PM at Chicago, IL, when President Grover Cleveland, in the presence of nearly a quarter of a million people, placed his finger on a golden key.   Amid the unfurling of thousands of flags, sounding of trumpets and booming of cannons, the key activated an electromagnetic valve, steam rushed into great cylinders and the immense pump began its enormous burden of pumping 15,000,000 gallons of water a day to supply the 685-acre fair and its visitors with an ample water supply.
http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/title.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gc2224.html
http://www.caldwellnj.com/grover.htm
    1894 - The first significant American protest march arrived in Washington, D.C. Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey during the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in US history to that time. The protest related to the unemployment caused by the Panic of 1893 and to lobby for the government to create jobs which would involve building roads and other public works improvements, with workers paid in paper currency which would expand the currency in circulation, consistent with populist ideology.
    1896 – Gen. Mark Clark (d. 1984) was born in Sacketts Harbor, NY.  A general during World War II and the Korean War, he was the youngest lieutenant general (three-star general) in the U.S. Army.  During World War I, he was seriously wounded by shrapnel. After the war, Clark’s abilities were noticed by future U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. During World War II, he commanded the Allied Fifth Army, and later the Fifteenth Army Group, in the Italian campaign. He is known for leading the Fifth Army in its capture of Rome in June, 1944.  General Eisenhower considered him a brilliant staff officer and trainer.   Clark was awarded many medals, including the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. Army's second highest award.  One legacy of the "Clark task force" which he headed from 1953-55 to recommend on all Federal intelligence activities, is coining the term “Intelligence Community.” 
    1900 – The Schofield Mining Disaster in Utah killed over 200 men in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.   
    1906 - The Night and Day Bank opened in New York City. It was open 24 hours a day. Oakleigh Thorne was the first president. The idea was originated by Thomas Benedict Clarke.
    1908 - Birthday of trombonist Henderson Chambers (d. 1967), Alexandria, LA
    1909 - Birthday of Kate Smith, born Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (d. 1986) at Greenville, VA.  One of America's most popular singers and she never took a formal music lesson.  She recorded more songs than any other performer (more than 3,000), made more than 15,000 radio broadcasts and received more than 25 million fan letters. Nineteen of her records sold over a million copies and she sold more war bonds during World War II than anyone else. On Nov 11, 1938, she introduced a new song during her regular radio broadcast, written especially for her by Irving Berlin: "God Bless America." It soon became the unofficial national anthem, and, since 9/11, is sung at the 7th inning of Major League baseball games. Her rendition is sung at Yankee Stadium.  She began her radio career May 1, 1931, with "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain," a song identified with her throughout her career.  
http://www.katesmith.org/
    1909 - Birthday of drummer Jesse Price (d. 1974), Memphis, TN.
http://www.umkc.edu/orgs/kcjazz/jazzfolk/pricj_00.htm
    1912 – The Beverly Hills Hotel opened.
    1915 - Birthday of Archie Williams (d. 1993) at Oakland, CA.  With Jesse Owens and others, he debunked Hitler's theory of the superiority of Aryan athletes at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. As a member of the US team, Williams won a gold medal by running the 400-meter in 46.5 seconds (0.4 second slower than his own record of earlier that year). Williams earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1939 but had to dig ditches for a time because they weren't hiring black engineers. He became an airplane pilot and for 22 years trained Tuskegee Institute pilots, including the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. When asked during a 1981 interview about his treatment by the Nazis during the 1936 Olympics, he replied, “Well, over there at least we didn't have to ride in the back of the bus.”
http://www.usatf.org/athletes/hof/williams.shtml
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu:2020/dynaweb/teiproj/oh/
blackalum/williams/@Generic__BookView
    1915 – RMS Lusitania departed from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.
    1916 – Actor Glenn Ford (d. 2006) was born in Quebec.
    1918 - Jack Paar’s (d. 2004) Birthday, in Canton, OH.  Paar, an early TV star, immediately preceded Johnny Carson as the host of “The Tonight Show,” from 1957-62.  Paar succeeded the show’s first host, Steve Allen.  
http://www.jackpaar.com/
(I remember many nights staying up with my father watching the Jack Paar Show. He and I were both night owls.)
http://talkshows.about.com/cs/jackpaar/
    1920 - The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves played the longest game in Major League Baseball history, but did not finish it. After 26 innings, the game was halted because of darkness with the score tied, 1-1. Each team used just one pitcher, Leon Cadore for the Dodgers and Jose Oescher for the Braves, who gave up 12 and 9 hits, respectively. Despite its 26 innings, the game took just 3 hours, 50 minutes as the game was not televised and there were no commercials!! The next day, the Dodgers lost to the Phillies in 13 innings. The day after that, the Braves returned to Boston and lost again in 19 innings.
    1920 – Babe Ruth, in his first season in pinstripes, hit the first HR of his Yankee career at the Polo Grounds.  “The House That Ruth Built,” also known as Yankee Stadium, would not open until 1923.
    1924 - Big Mabelle was born Mabel Louise Smith (d. 1972) in Jackson, TN.  In 1955 she recorded the song "Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” produced by up-and-coming producer Quincy Jones, a full two years before Jerry Lee Lewis's version. Lewis has credited Smith's version as being the inspiration to make his version much louder, raunchy and raucous, with a driving beat and a spoken section with a come-on that was considered very risqué for the time.
http://www.p-dub.com/thang/maybelle.htmlBirthday
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Big%20Maybelle.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000094N/
avsearch-df1-9-20/103-6620160-9563023
    1924 – “Jeopardy’s” original host, Art Fleming (d. 1995), was born Arthur Fleming Fazzin in NYC.  He attended Colgate and Cornell Universities, starring on the football and water polo teams at both colleges. Fleming was a World War II veteran who served in the US Navy for three and a half years as the pilot of a patrol bomber over the Atlantic.  Following a brief career as a radio announcer and actor, Fleming was tabbed to host the new game show “Jeopardy” by its creator, Merv Griffin.  He held the position from 1964-75 and again from 1978-9, winning two Emmy Award nominations.  Studio 25 of the NBC Burbank Studios is named in his honor.
    1925 – Pro Football Hall of Famer Chuck Bednarik (d. 2015) was born in Bethlehem, PA.  Known as Concrete Charlie, Bednarik played his entire career as center and linebacker of the Philadelphia Eagles.  His reputation preceded him as a devastating tackler and he was the last two-way player in the NFL.  He led the Eagles to the NFL championship win a 17-13 win over the Green Bay Packers, the only playoff loss of Vince Lombardi’s career.  Bednarik saved the day by tackling Jim Taylor on the Eagles’ 8-yard line as time expired.  In 1960 against the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium, he delivered one of the most famous and violent tackles in NFL history, knocking Frank Gifford out of football for over 18 months with a concussion.  As his teammates looked on at his prone and unconscious body, several said later they thought he was dead.
    1925 – One of the original Mercury Astronauts, Scott Carpenter (d. 2013), was born in Boulder, CO.  Carpenter was the second American, after John Glenn, to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space. 
    1926 – Satchel Paige made his pitching debut, in the Negro Southern League.
    1927 – The first cooked meals on a flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
    1929 – Birthday of James Loden (d. 2016) who became known as Sonny James, Hackleburg, AL.  Best known for his 1957 hit, 'Young Love' and dubbed the ‘Southern Gentleman,’ James has had 72 country and pop chart hits from 1953 to 1983, including a five-year streak of 16 straight among his 23 No.1 hits.  James was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1961 and co-hosted the first Country Music Association Awards Show in 1967.  He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. 
    1930 - Blues harmonica player Little Walter was born Marion Walter Jacobs (d. 1968) in Marksville, Louisiana. He was a pioneer in the use of a microphone to amplify the mouth harp, and his techniques were widely copied, particularly by white blues musicians in England. Little Walter died in 1968 after being stabbed in a street fight in Chicago.
http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/harmlw.htm
http://www.island.net/~blues/little_w.html
http://www2.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad3341a.cgi/2739/RETURN-CODE
    1930 - The planet Pluto was named
    1930 – Pro Football Hall of Famer (1972), Ollie Matson (d. 2013), was born in Trinity, TX.  After an All-American career at the University of San Francisco team that went undefeated in 1951, Matson played for the Chicago Cardinals who drafted him #3 in the first round.  Following the 1958 season, he was traded to the LA Rams for NINE players.  When Matson retired in 1966, his 12,799 career all-purpose yards were second only to Jim Brown. 
    1931 - The Empire State Building, 103 stories, more than 1,250 feet tall, was dedicated. The builder was Colonel William Aiken Starrett; the architect, William Frederick Lamb; the engineer, Homer Gage Balcom. In 1950, a 222-foot television sending-tower was constructed on the roof.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may01.html
http://www.esbnyc.com/
    1931 - On her 22nd birthday, singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on CBS. Smith's program appeared opposite "Amos 'n' Andy" on NBC and was so successful that NBC switched its comedy program to another evening.
    1933 - Birthday singer/song writer Titus Turner (d. 1984), Atlanta, GA
http://www.centrohd.com/biogra/t2/titus_turner_a_us.htm
    1936 – Boulder Dam was completed.  On the border between Nevada and Arizona and impounding Lake Mead, it was constructed between 1931 and 1936. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was later controversially named after President Herbert Hoover.  Since about 1900, the Black Canyon and nearby Boulder Canyon had been investigated for their potential to support a dam that would control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. In 1928, Congress authorized the project. The winning bid to build the dam was submitted by a consortium called Six Companies, Inc.  Such a large concrete structure had never been built before, and some of the techniques were unproven. Nevertheless, Six Companies turned over the dam to the federal government on March 1, 1936, more than two years ahead of schedule.
    1936 – Alvin Karpis was arrested by the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover.
    1939 – Batman comic books hit the streets for the first time.
    1939 - Folk singer Judy Collins was born in Seattle, Washington. She gained widespread fame in 1961 with her debut album "Maid of Constant Sorrow." Collins is best known for her hits "Both Sides Now" - top ten in 1969 - and "Amazing Grace" from 1971. She also helped promote the careers of Randy Newman, and Canadians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.
http://www.judycollins.com/
http://www.elektra.com/elektra/judycollins/index.jhtml;jsessionid
=L0EFAZRD3J5GQQAMEEQSFEY?_requestid=546276
http://www.richardhess.com/judy/
    1941 - Orson Welles’ film "Citizen Kane" premiered in New York.
    1941 – General Mills introduced Cheerios.
    1942 - The US government seized the nation's jukebox factories and puts them to work making war materiel.
    1945 - A German newsreader officially announced that Adolf Hitler has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany." The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.  Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Fuhrerbunker. Their children are also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother.
    1946 - Elliot Lawrence cuts first commercial session for Columbia.
(this is a great album: http://www.fantasyjazz.com/catalog/lawrence_e_cat.html )
http://www.52ndstreet.com/reviews/mainstream/
lawrenceplaysmulligan.mainstream.html
    1946 - Emma Clarissa Clement, mother of Atlanta University President Rufus E. Clement, was named "American Mother of the Year" by the Golden Rule Foundation. She was the first African-American woman to receive the award.
    1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks become the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book, ”Annie Allen,” Harpers.
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/GwendolynBrooks.html
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/brooks.htm
    1950 – Guam was organized as a US commonwealth.
    1951 – Mickey Mantle hit the first HR of his Major League career.
    1951 – Minnie Minoso became the first black player on the Chicago White Sox.
    1953 - Tops Hits
“Pretend” - Nat King Cole
“Till I Waltz Again with You” - Teresa Brewer
“I Believe” - Frankie Laine
“Mexican Joe” - Jim Reeves
    1955 - Leonard Chess signed a St. Louis guitarist named Chuck Berry to a recording contract after he came highly recommended by Muddy Waters.
    1955 - On tour with Hank Snow's All Star Jamboree, Elvis Presley played three shows at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sun Records had just released Elvis' fourth single, ‘Baby, Let’s Play House.’
    1956 - The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was made available to the public.   
    1957 - The Kingston Trio formed in Palo Alto, CA.  They started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds. They rose to international popularity, fueled by unprecedented sales of long-playing albums (LPs), and helped to alter the direction of popular music in the U.S.  The Kingston Trio was one of the most prominent groups of the era's pop-folk boom that started in 1958 with the release of their first album and its hit recording of “Tom Dooley,” which sold over three million copies as a single.  In 1961, the Trio was described as "the most envied, the most imitated, and the most successful singing group, folk or otherwise, in all show business" and "the undisputed kings of the folk-singing rage by every yardstick."  Among their hits:  “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” “Scotch and Soda,” “MTA,” “Greenback Dollar,” “Raspberries, Strawberries,” “The Tijuana Jail,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “A Worried Man.”
    1960 - The U2 Incident:  On the eve of a summit meeting between US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, a U-2 espionage plane flying at about 60,000 feet was shot down over Sverdlovsk, in central USSR. The pilot, CIA agent Francis Gary Powers, survived the crash, as did large parts of the aircraft, a suicide kit and sophisticated surveillance equipment. The sensational event, which US officials described as a weather reconnaissance flight gone astray, resulted in cancellation of the summit meeting. Powers was tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Moscow court. In 1962, he was returned to the US in exchange for an imprisoned Soviet spy. Powers died in a helicopter crash in 1977.
    1961 - So-called “militant students” joined James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to conduct “freedom rides” on public transportation from Washington, DC, across the deep South to New Orleans. The trips were intended to test Supreme Court decisions and Interstate Commerce Commission regulations prohibiting discrimination in interstate travel. In several places, riders were brutally beaten by local people and policemen. On May 14, members of the Ku Klux Klan attacked the Freedom Riders in Birmingham, AL, while local police watched. The rides were patterned after a similar challenge to segregation, the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, which tested the US Supreme Court's June 3, 1948 ban against segregation in interstate bus travel.
    1961 - The first skyjacking of a commercial American airplane took place during the flight of a National Airlines twin-engine Convair CV 440 from Miami, FL, to Key West, FL. The plane left Marathon, FL, at 3:23 pm with eight passengers. A passenger name d’Antillo Ortiz, using the name of El Pirata Cofresi, threatened the crew and passengers with a pistol and knife. The plane landed in Havana. The string of airplane highjackings that followed were dubbed “skyjackings” by the press and led to the U.S.'s first air piracy law, passed in September, 1961.  Concurrently, Cuban leader Fidel Castro proclaimed Cuba a socialist nation and abolished elections.
    1961 - Tops Hits
“Runaway” - Del Shannon
“Mother-In-Law” - Ernie K-Doe
“I've Told Every Little Star” - Linda Scott
“Don't Worry” - Marty Robbins
    1962 - The Beatles started a month-long residency at The Star Club, Hamburg, Germany. American musicians including Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Bill Haley, Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Lee Lewis also all appeared here.
    1962 - The first Target discount store opened in Roseville, Minn.
    1963 - J. Walter Kennedy was named the second president of the NBA, succeeding Maurice Podoloff, who retired after the 1962-63 season.
    1963 - James W. Whittaker of Redmond, WA, the leading member of the first American Mount Everest Expedition, became the first American to ascend to the top, 10 years after Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the ascent of the 29,028-foot peak.
    1963 - Lesley Gore performed her first big hit, "It's My Party," on ABC-TV's American Bandstand.
    1965 - After just two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, Herman's Hermits reach #1 with "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter."
    1965 - The Supremes release "Back in My Arms Again," which will become their fifth consecutive US number one hit.
    1966 - The Beatles played a 15-minute live set on stage for the last time in the UK when they appeared at the NME Poll Winners concert at Wembley Empire Pool. The Beatles set included five songs: 'I Feel Fine,' 'Nowhere Man,' 'Day Tripper,' 'If I Needed Someone' and 'I'm Down.' Also on the bill, The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Roy Orbison, Cliff Richard, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Who and The Yardbirds.
    1967 – Priscilla Beaulieu, born Brooklyn, NY, marries Elvis Presley at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The wedding cake alone cost $3,500.  Priscilla was the teenaged daughter of a US Army officer whom Elvis had met in Germany. She had lived at Presley's Graceland Mansion since 1961, ostensibly under the supervision of Presley's father and stepmother with her parents’ permission. On February 1st, 1968, their only child, Lisa Marie, was born. Four years later, the couple separated, and in 1973, Elvis filed for divorce.
http://www.swinginchicks.com/priscilla_presley.htm
http://www.elvis.com/
    1967 - The F.B.I. arrested The Beach Boys' Carl Wilson on charges of avoiding the military draft and refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance. He was later released and joined the rest of the band in Ireland for a British tour.
    1968 – Country singer and actor Tim McGraw was born in Delhi, Louisiana. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts with total album sales in excess of 40 million units in the US. McGraw had 11 consecutive albums debut at No.1 on the Billboard albums charts, as well as twenty-one singles hitting No.1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw.   
    1969 - Top Hits
“Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In” - The 5th Dimension
“It's Your Thing” - The Isley Brothers
“Hair” - The Cowsills
“Galveston” - Glen Campbell
    1969 - Leonard Tose pays $16,155,000 to buy the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. It was the largest price paid to that date for a pro football franchise. It was over a decade [1981] before the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl which they lost to the Oakland Raiders, 27-10.
    1970 - Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin combined for the first time on Elton's first American album simply titled, "Elton John." The LP contained Elton's first hit, "Your Song," which made it to the top ten on in December.
http://www.eltonjohn.com/flash_index.asp
http://www.eltonography.com/
http://www.artistdesktopthemes.com/st/j/elton_john.dt.1.html
    1970 - Protests erupted in Seattle, following the announcement by President Nixon that US forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
    1971 - Amtrak, the national rail service which combined the operations of 18 passenger railroads, went into service. Personal service, great food, full attention, and very comfortable rides were available to all who rode the national rails.
http://www.amtrak.com/
http://www.amtraktrains.com/
get an Amtrak ticket on line at:
http://reservations.amtrak.com/JBookIt?function=handlers.amtrak.
AmtrakMainSimple&storefront=1003&saveSession=no
    1971 - The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" is released. It would reach number one in the US and number two in the UK.
    1975 - Lila Cockrell defeated nine male opponents to become mayor of San Antonio, Texas, the nation's 10th largest city with a population of 750,000. According to “Women of Achievement and Her Story,“ she was empowered to run for the mayoralty post following Janet Gray Hayes's amazing victory in San Jose, California that in those pre-Silicon Valley days was far from the size of San Antonio.  Hayes’ victory convinced Cockrell that a woman could be elected to head a big city. (Janet Gray Hayes is a very good friend of mine, devoted to her physician husband, and in her day, quite a tennis player). Women had served as mayors of small towns since the late 19th century but none of a major metropolis. Mayor Cockrell was 53 years old when elected, married with two daughters. Her political life began with the League of Women Voters.
http://www.trilateraltechsummit.com/cockrellBio.htm
    1977 - Top Hits
“Southern Nights” - Glen Campbell
“Hotel California” - Eagles
“When I Need You” - Leo Sayer
“She's Pulling Me Back Again” - Mickey Gilley
    1981 - American Airlines began the first frequent flyer program on this date. Now most airlines offer a frequent flyer program but American is still the industry leader with 45 million members. Today 40 percent of all miles are earned on the ground with affiliated business that pay the airlines for the miles, such as hotels, car rental companies, credit card companies, phone companies and retailers.
    1981 - Tennis champion Billie Jean King acknowledged her lesbian relationship with Marilyn Barnett, becoming the first prominent sportswoman to come out.
    1981 – NJ Senator Harrison Williams was convicted on FBI Abscam charges.  The two-year FBI operation was coordinated with the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force that was originally investigating trafficking in stolen property and corruption of prestigious businessmen, but was later converted to a public corruption investigation. The FBI, aided by the Justice Department and a convicted con-man, videotaped politicians accepting bribes from a fraudulent Arab company in return for various political favors.  More than 30 political figures were investigated and among those, a total of seven Congressmen — six members of the House plus Sen. Williams — were convicted. Additionally, one member of the NJ Senate, members of the Philadelphia City Council, the Mayor of Camden, NJ, and an inspector for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service were convicted.   The Abscam operation is dramatized in the 2013 feature film “American Hustle.”
    1982 - "I Love Rock 'N’ Roll," by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, appeared at the top of the pop music charts for the seventh, and final, week. The rocker stayed on the charts for 16 weeks. Jett from Philadelphia PA, played guitar and formed the all-female rock band, The Runaways, in the mid-'70s. The Blackhearts were founded in 1980. Jett starred in the film, "Light of Day," playing the role of leader of a rock band called The Barbusters. The movie also starred Michael J. Fox and Michael McKean. The title song, "Light of Day" was written by Jett and Bruce Springsteen. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts had nine hits on the charts into 1990, but "I Love Rock 'N’ Roll" was the group's only million-plus selling record.
http://www.joanjett.com/Lyrics/lyrics/ILRNR.htm
    1984 - Fleetwood Mac drummer and founder Mick Fleetwood filed for bankruptcy.
    1985 - Top Hits
“We are the World” - USA for Africa
“Crazy for You” - Madonna
“Rhythm of the Night” - DeBarge
“Girls Night Out” - The Judds
    1986 - Race car driver Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega, AL: 212.229 mph.
    1988 - Top Hits
Wishing Well - Terence Trent D Arby
Anything For You - Gloria Estefan
Angel - Aerosmith
Where Do Broken Hearts Go - Whitney Houston
Pink Cadillac - Natalie Cole
    1988 - Pink Floyd's, "Dark Side of the Moon" finally dropped off the US albums chart after a run of 725 weeks (almost 14 years).
    1989 - Police were called to a jewelry store in Simi Valley, California after employees reported a suspicious person. He turned out to be Michael Jackson, who had donned a wig, fake moustache, false teeth and eyelashes to go shopping. Officers had him remove his disguise and show his identification.
    1989 - Thunderstorms produced heavy rain in the southeastern U.S. Rainfall totals of 1.84 inches at Charlotte and 2.86 inches at Atlanta were records for the date. Strong thunderstorm winds uprooted trees in Twiggs County, GA.
    1989 – Walt Disney World opened outside Orlando, FL.
    1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather from northern Alabama to North Carolina. There were sixty-three reports of large hail or damaging winds, with hail four inches in diameter reported near Cartersville, GA. Ten cities in the southeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date as readings warmed into the 90s. Jacksonville, FL reported a record high of 96 degrees. Late night thunderstorms over central Texas produced up to ten inches of rain in southern Kimble County and northern Edwards County.
    1991 - Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitched the seventh no-hitter of his career, extending his own Major League record. Ryan struck out 16 as the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0.
    1991 - Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics stole third base, the 939th steal of his career, to set a new major league record, surpassing Lou Brock. The A's beat the New York Yankees, 7-4.
    1992 - On the third day of the Los Angeles riots, Rodney King appeared in public to appeal for calm, asking "Can we all get along?"  The LA Dodgers postponed 3 games due to the riots.  History DOES have a way of repeating!
    1993 - Top Hits
“Freak M” - Silk
“Informer” - Snow
“Nuthin But A ‘G’ Thang” - Dr. Dre
“I Have Nothing (From ‘The Bodyguard’)” - Whitney Houston
    2002 - Tops Hits
“Foolish” - Ashanti
“What's Luv?” - Fat Joe Featuring Ashanti
“U Don't Have To Call” - Usher
“I Need A Girl (Part One)” - P. Diddy Featuring Usher & Loon
“Ain't It Funny” - Jennifer Lopez Featuring Ja Rule
    2003 - President George W. Bush landed in a jet on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast and, in a speech to the nation, declared major combat in Iraq over.
    2006 - The Puerto Rican government closed the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow.
    2007 – A May Day melee occurred when the LA Police Department responded to a pro-immigration rally, stirring yet another controversy.
    2011 - President Barack Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was killed by United States forces in Pakistan.
    2013 - The U.N. Human Rights Office determined it is a violation of international law to force-feed hunger strikers at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison.

Stanley Cup Champions
    1965 - Montreal Canadiens