Post a Free Classified Job Wanted
100 Word Maximum Free Listing

Write a free 100 word maximum classified ad. You can use a Gmail or Yahoo free email listing for responses.

http://leasingnews.org/Classified/Jwanted/Jwanted.htm

Email: kitmenkin@leasingnews.org with a free 100 word maximum classified ad.

 

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Top Ten Stories
April 27 - May 1

(Stories most opened by readers)

(1) Pawnee Leasing Corporation
   Temporary Suspension of Originations
http://leasingnews.org/archives/May2020/05_01.htm#pawnee

(2) Readers React to Pawnee Leasing Corporation
       Temporary Suspension of Originations
         By Christopher "Kit" Menkin, Editor
http://leasingnews.org/archives/May2020/05_01.htm#readers

(3) Balboa Capital Opens Broker Division
       Hires Viki Shamus to Run It (see New Hires)
http://leasingnews.org/archives/May2020/05_01.htm#balboa

(4) Pictures from the Past
      1995
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2020/04_29.htm#pictures

(5) Bulletin Board Complaints
      By Christopher Menkin, Editor
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2020/04_29.htm#complaints

(6) North Mill Implements Procedural Enhancements in 2020
       By Don Cosenza, Senior Vice President of Marketing
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2020/04_27.htm#north

(7) Marlin Sends out Press Release Net Loss $11.8M 1st Quarter
      Credit Losses $52.1 Million, $30.4 million Increase from 12/31/2019
http://leasingnews.org/archives/May2020/05_01.htm#marlin

(8) New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
       and Related Industries
http://leasingnews.org/archives/May2020/05_01.htm#hires

(9) Times Are Tough But Now is the Time
       to Join a Surviving Company
http://leasingnews.org/archives/Apr2020/04_27.htm#times

(10) ‘I just want to know who made the bad loans’
        Cramer blasts small business loan program
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/28/cramer-blames-banks-for-small-business-loans-going-to-larger-firms.html

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The Direction of Leasing News in the Pandemic
Email Conversion with Ralph Mango

In discussing the four major downturns since Leasing News started in 1992, our audience has changed, many originals have retired, no more TRW by telephone, beepers, UPS/Federal Express, faxing, as well as the pervasive utilization of the internet and Financial Technology.

Recently, Leasing News continues with the "hard news," but has been emphasizing education and optimism.

In discussing this with Associate Publisher Ralph Mango, he wrote:

“I certainly appreciate all you have done on my behalf. Unlike many who talk about it, you have walked it and I can’t find the words to express my thanks.

“Your concern is The Leasing News and its readers, something you have succeeded in achieving long before we met. I think the biggest challenge is not different audiences but what the current audiences must do in the new normal as the economy slowly returns to social interaction and people are recalled to work…

• Stores will need inventory and restaurants will need food and supplies.

• Schools and other institutions will reopen and require supplies.

• People will begin to travel again…from daily commutes on transit to Amtrak to planes.

• Hotels will rehire for serving returning guests and conventions will resume.

• Shipment of goods will be stressed.

“This is where the rubber meets the road. If I was a CEO of a lender/lessor, I’d be researching how these trends may play out and translate into the need for capital. I’d be looking at more efficient and productive ways to optimize our results in the new environment. Also I’d conduct an exhaustive personnel review of everyone in the company to assess individual productivity and their likely adaptability to new and dramatic changes required to compete going forward. The latter is important in the context that what won in the past may not win in a new normal and not everyone can or wants to adapt.

"There are winners and losers, leaders and laggards, and the difference is preparation, then executive at high levels. I am concerned that many of our readers will simply resort to their old habits once the bell rings, having given little thought to the sea change that this historic destruction of the economy and its processes will bring.

“Perhaps we should point ourselves in that direction rather than listening to the cheerleading content we have seen in the past weeks.

“Once again, I thank you for your efforts.”

Ralph Mango
ralphmango@hotmail.com

North Mill Capital Finance Employees Filling Their Days
with Hard Work -- And Goodwill

By Don Cosenza, Chief Marketing Officer, CLFP, North Mill

From catering dinner to donating plasma, the staff at North Mill Capital Finance (“North Mill”), Norwalk, Connecticut, has been busy reaching out and touching someone. Be it family, friend, neighbor or stranger, the company’s employees are stepping up like millions of other gracious Americans and helping those in need during this most trying time in our country’s history.

Like countless other businesses across the nation, North Mill employees transitioned to home offices weeks ago. As staff members go about their daily routines, many have augmented their schedules by incorporating good deeds, extending a helping hand for the sake of extending a helping hand.

Sabrina Walker, Document and Funding Account Manager, explained, “Giving back has always been a passion of mine. I would rather do for someone than have someone do for me.” Like many Americans, Sabrina has been touched first-hand by the pandemic as her daughters, both health care workers, are on the front lines. In response, she crocheted dozens of “ear extenders” that make face masks more comfortable for hospital employees. “Each one is unique. They love them.”

Ellen Miller, AVP, Legal, went above and beyond. A long-term North Mill employee, Ellen dipped into her savings and donated money in the form of groceries for folks struggling to set the dinner table with a meal. If that were not enough, she donated to the Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County.

 “There’s nothing that touches you more than a family that can’t afford to put food on the table,” Ellen said. 

Another North Mill employee who prefers to remain anonymous was startled to find his letter carrier in tears. The man’s wife, saddled with a compromised immune system, was petrified of catching the virus. The town had not followed through with its promise to provide postal workers with anti-bacterial wipes before handling mailboxes, thus putting him at greater risk of contracting the disease. Without a moment’s hesitation, the employee handed over his family’s last container of Clorox wipes and collected dozens more from neighbors.

The gift of giving has no bounds, making its way up the ladder at North Mill.

The company’s Chairman and CEO, David Lee, was stricken with the coronavirus early-on in the pandemic. He tested positive in March after a mild cough laid way for 101.7 fever that lasted for 36 hours. After being given a clean bill of health, he leveraged his experience for the benefit of others by donating his plasma not once, but twice.
 
While these North Mill stories are far from unique, they nevertheless represent a modicum of the genuine goodwill that so many Americans display during times of crises, underscoring the notion that we truly are in this “all together.” 

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What Could You Do in One Year?

The Ultimate Hire by Ken Lubin, ZRG Partners

Imagine what you could do in one year!

If you focused on a passion, career, relationship, anything; what could you do if you gave it all you have for one year? Things can change in one second, one minute, one hour, one day, one week….You get it. Take the time to commit to being outside of your comfort zone and embark on your journey. We all have personal goals in the back of our minds that keep getting pushed back deeper and deeper. Take this time, write them down, and bring them into your life. In one year, I believe that you will be where you want to be and then some.

Make a commitment and see what you can do. The clock is ticking! Tomorrow you only have 364 days left to achieve your goal.

Good Luck and be awesome!

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

Ken Lubin is a Managing Director with ZRG Partners, Founder of Executive Athletes, Founder of the Ultimate Hire, US Olympic Committee Career Advisor, and Death Race Winner. Ken is a master in getting people out of their comfort zone.  He helps people achieve their dreams and companies achieve their goals by helping them realize the high performance life

While he leads the global executive search initiative in several specialty finance niches;  Ken is also the Founder of Executive Athletes LLC, an online community which consists of over 18k+ business professionals www.executiveathletes.com that compete globally in high level athletics and are leaders in the world of business. In addition to being an initial founder of The 431 Project, he is on the board of the Friends of Tuckerman Ravine.

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

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Marlin Business Services' (MRLN) Q1 2020 Results
Earnings Call Transcript Highlights, www.seekingalpha.com

Marlin Sends out Press Release Net Loss $11.8M 1st Quarter
   Credit Losses $52.1 Million, $30.4 million Increase from 12/31/2019 (2)

Highlights from 12 Page Transcript

Chris York. JMP Securities

“Is on competition, Ascentium Capital, which I tend to think was one of your most direct competitors, was recently acquired by Regions in February from Warburg Pincus, so typically there has been a lag effect from increased competition when an independent store is acquired by a bank. So how do you expect Ascentium with a new parent to impact your business, especially given the fact that you just said Q1 and Q4, January and February origination volume was impacted by competition?

Jeff Hilzinger, President and Chief Executive Officer

“Yes, I think that, so that acquisition just closed two or three weeks ago. And I expect that Ascentium is going to become even a bigger competitor, now that they'll have access to retail deposit costs than they have in the past. So, I think it's just a continuing trend of seeing these kinds of platforms becoming parts of banks and marrying the product expertise in the market access with what it has proven to be extremely low cost option. So that is an important structural change in the market, Chris.”

Chris York, JMP Securities

“Okay. And I mean, given all those reasons you just described, two of those reasons, and then maybe Ascentium’s acquisition or even the economic backdrop, has changed your perception changed about operating as an independent, publicly traded financial company?”

Jeff Hilzinger, President and Chief Executive Officer

“Well, we've talked about this in the past. I think that, Marlin is always evaluating sort of its capital structure and its ownership and where it can be the most competitive. And certainly, I think as we see this segment of the commercial finance space being acquired by banks that definitely is something that is having an influence on the way we think about that.”

Page 10

Lou Maslowe, Senior Vice President and Chief Risk Officer

“We've said we don't have – with respect to Working Capital, we don't have the experience in the downturn like we had with Equipment Finance, although we've said in the past that we could expect it to be 3X to 4X of what it could be in the downturn if we compare metrics in great recession. But, that’s really – right now it's just too soon to say how big an impact this is going to have on the performance, especially in light of all the government support, all of the encouragement for restructures. I mean, if you look at it, there's a fair number of our restructures that are to the medical community, like Dennis, there's a lot of good businesses out there that have requested restructures that we think our businesses are going to survive and it's just a matter of getting through this period. So a long way to say there's a lot of unknowns, but we'll have to wait and see a little bit, what develops over the next few months.”

page 10

"We don't need leaders like this man who does not want to help others, or follow "love thy neighbor," especially to not specifically support people who fought in wars to save our country and lives. And what does this say about our "first responders:" you are wasting your time in trying to save lives."

page 3

Mike Bogansky, CPA, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

“In addition to the $11.9 million increase to the allowance at adoption, during the first quarter, we recorded a $25.1 million provision for credit losses. Utilize unemployment rates and business bankruptcy forecasts as key economic inputs into our CECL model, which have both significantly increased since the end of 2019 as a result of the impacts from the pandemic. In the coming quarters, we will continue to evaluate the economic environment, refine our outlook and update our loss reserves accordingly.

“During the first quarter of 2019, approximately $1 million of residual income was recognized in fee income, whereas this activity is reflected in the allowance for credit losses in the first quarter of 2020.”

page 5

“Moving to expenses, first quarter non-interest expenses were $29.9 million compared to $16.4 million in the prior quarter and $24.8 million in the first quarter last year. Non-interest expenses for the first quarter of 2020 including $6.7 million charge related to the impairment of goodwill due to the significant decline in Marlin's market value in March as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated and the impacts were felt across the financial services sector. Since we have won the full [ph] unit for the assessment of goodwill impairment, charge was driven by the fact that the market value of the company was below book value for a sustained period of time. As Jeff mentioned, we proactively and aggressively managed our expenses to meet the demands of our operating reality. In April, we announced an employee furlough and certain compensation changes that resulted in an annualized run rate fixed cost savings of approximately $9 million. We will continue to proactively manage the operations as the impact from the pandemic continues to evolve.”

page 6

“So as Jeff mentioned for April, we reduced – the origination volumes were reduced to about a third. So we're looking at equal origination volume of around $20 million, and I don't have the monthly figures handy with me right now.”

page 7

1- Seeking Alpha Transcript
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4342041-marlin-business-services-mrln-ceo-jeff-hilzinger-on-q1-2020-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=11

2- Marlin Sends out Press Release Net Loss $11.8M 1st Quarter
Credit Losses $52.1 Million, $30.4 million Increase from 12/31/2019
http://leasingnews.org/archives/May2020/05_01.htm#marlin

 

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

North Mill Schedules Important
Webinar this Week

SOUTH NORWALK, CT – North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC (“North Mill”), a leading, independent commercial lender in South Norwalk, CT, reports it will be holding a live web broadcast this week to keep referral agents abreast of the latest updates at the company.

North Mill, in business for over 60 years, has continued to fund deals since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Lee, Chairman and CEO, North Mill, said, “North Mill takes its pledge to provide steady, open dialogue between our firm and the many referral agents with whom we work very seriously.
 “There has been no better time to demonstrate our commitment to transparency than right now, during this most challenging period in our industry. We want our partners to know that we’re here and ready to help.”

The webinar, aptly titled, “An Update from North Mill,” is scheduled for thirty minutes with additional time allotted to answer attendees’ questions.  The presentation will cover:

• North Mill’s current state, financially sound and ready to lend
• Policy enhancements and procedural modifications
• Details on closing deals during COVID-19
• Ways to follow up and connect with a North Mill representative

The webinar is designed for both current North Mill brokers as well as those referral agents who are interested in learning basic information on the type of customer and deal that best fits North Mill’s credit window.

Don Cosenza, Chief Marketing Officer, CLFP, North Mill, will host the presentation.  He will be joined by the company’s Chairman and CEO, David Lee, who will answer questions and share his insight.

To accommodate busy schedules, registrants can choose from the following two dates:

Wednesday, May 6, 2020   3:00 pm - 3:45 pm EST
https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/7598343735643064075

OR

Friday, May 8, 2020   3:00 pm - 3:45 pm EST
https://register.gotowebinar.com/rt/7598343735643064075

To enroll, click on one of the dates to be forwarded to a GoToMeeting registration page.  You can also enroll by calling 800-223-6630 or emailing aboutyou@nmef.com.

About North Mill Equipment Finance
Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, North Mill Equipment Finance originates and services small-ticket equipment leases and loans, ranging from $15,000 to $300,000 in value.   A broker-centric private lender, the company handles A – C credit qualities and finances transactions for numerous asset categories including construction, transportation, vocational, manufacturing, medical and material handling equipment. North Mill is majority owned by an affiliate of Wafra Capital Partners, Inc. (WCP).  For more information, visit www.nmef.com

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

 

Labrador Retriever
Minnetonka, Minnesota  Adopt a Dog

Poncho
D200168
Male
Brown/chocolate
Weight: 55
Coat length: Medium
Activity Level: Moderate
Good with Dogs: Yes
Good with Adults: All
Reaction to New People: Friendly
Energy Level: Moderate
Kid Friendly: Yes
House Trained: Yes
Crate Trained: Yes
History: Pulled from Animal Control
Adoption Fee: $400

From the Foster: Are you looking for a sweet cuddle bug that just wants to give and get love? Then Poncho is the dog for you. Past the young pup stage, he brings the right combination of mellow and low key, mixed with a sprinkle of fun and playfulness. He is the most gentle cuddlier I’ve ever had. We’ve been working on some basic commands, which he is taking too well. He is very eager to please while trying to figure out his boundaries.

His biggest challenge right now is not reacting to other dogs on walks—so this will be great for him to continue so everyone can enjoy walks. He can be left out an entire workday without getting into trouble or having any accidents. He would do best with a fenced in yard.

If there are other dogs in the home, he will need slow intros until he acclimates. Any new dogs he meets will require slow intros, as well. With a bit of time, he is now co-existing well with his foster brother and sisters. We don’t know how he is with cats yet. This boy is a real gem, and would be a loving addition to any family.

Application:
https://secondhandhounds.org/adopt/dog-adoption-application-form/

Rules for Meet & Greets AND Animal Pick Up:
https://secondhandhounds.org/adopt/dog-adoption-application-form/

Secondhand Hounds
5959 Baker Road, suite 290
Minnetonka, MN 55345

Office Hours:
Monday – Friday: 9am–4pm | 6pm–8pm
Saturday & Sunday: 11am–2pm

Phone Number: 952-322-7643 (Email is preferred contact method).  Questions regarding the status of your dog application can be directed to DogAdoptions@secondhandhounds.org.

Contact Form:
https://secondhandhounds.org/contact/

 

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Apple and Google are in the planning stages of releasing a contact tracing app, which would allow people to anonymously track who has tested positive for COVID-19 and whether they’ve come in contact with one another. The public, however, is split on whether they’ll even use the app when it's released.

In a new survey from the Washington Post and the University of Maryland, respondents were split fifty-fifty on whether they’d use a contact tracing app if one was made available. Of the 50 percent who said they’d use it, only 17 percent said they would definitely use it compared to 32 percent who said they’d probably use it. Of the 50 percent who said they wouldn’t use the app, 20 percent were certain they wouldn’t and 30 percent thought they probably wouldn’t use it.

Contact tracing has been touted as one of the only plans that would allow people in the U.S. to begin re-opening and end social distancing without causing further outbreaks. Experts suggest around 60 percent of the population would need to participate in contact tracing in order to stop the spread of the virus.

However, many are weary of privacy concerns surrounding companies having access to location data and health records, despite Google and Apple creating strict privacy guidelines around their contact tracing tools. Encrypted data and a plethora of safeguards are said to exist within these contact tracing tools, but with large data breaches occurring almost annually with top tech companies, many are still cautious.

By Willern Roper, Statista

https://www.statista.com/chart/21573/contact-tracing-app-adoption/

 

News Briefs----

Zero-percent Auto Finance Deals Hit Record in April
 "It's a Buyer's Market"
https://www.autoremarketing.com/subprime/zero-percent-finance-deals-hit-record-april

Public companies received $1 billion
  in stimulus funds meant for small businesses
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/01/sba-ppp-public-companies/

City's proclamation requiring face masks in stores
  and restaurants is amended after threats of violence
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/02/us/face-masks-stillwater-oklahoma-trnd/index.html

Dr. Deborah Birx calls protesters without masks
 ‘devastatingly worrisome’
https://nypost.com/2020/05/03/birx-calls-protesters-without-masks-devastatingly-worrisome/

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You May Have Missed---

Hotel Group Will Return Tens of Millions
   in Small Business Loans
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/business/economy/ashford-hotels-virus-monty-bennett.html

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IF YOU WANT TO WIN THIS GAME …….
YOU HAVE TO SHOUT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!!!
WE SAY "GO"
YOU SAY…….FIGHT!!
GO………FIGHT!
GO………FIGHT!
Everyone together yell: WIN

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Sports Briefs---

Why Aaron Rodgers won't be leaving the Packers anytime soon
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2020/05/03/green-bay-packers-why-aaron-rodgers-wont-leaving-anytime-soon/3074317001/

Chiefs reach deal with ex-Michigan QB Shea Patterson
http://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/81571/Chiefs-reach-deal-with-ex-Michigan-QB-Shea-Patterson

Tennis Coming Back Slowly With Exhibition Matches
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/sports/tennis/coronavirus-tennis.html

Andy Dalton Joins Crowded N.F.L. Free Agent Pool
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/sports/football/nfl-free-agents-andy-dalton.html

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California Nuts Briefs---

  California records most single-day deaths in over a week
    Number of patients in intensive care units remained unchanged Friday
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/02/coronavirus-california-records-most-single-day-deaths-in-over-a-week/

Rural counties strike back at Newsom
   as pressure mounts in Sacramento County
https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article242469791.html#storylink=bignews_main

Some Orange County restaurants and shops
    reopen despite statewide orders
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/03/some-orange-county-restaurants-and-shops-reopen-despite-statewide-orders/

Police hand out 126 tickets in 6 hours
    on Pacific Coast Highway
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/03/126-citations-issued-in-6-hours-on-pacific-coast-highway/

Coronavirus: Port of Oakland pleads with state for financial help
https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Coronavirus-Port-of-Oakland-pleads-with-state-15238394.php

Biba Restaurant to close. ‘This feels like a second death.
    It feels like my mom died again.’
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article242465766.html?

 

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“Gimme that Wine”

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

US wine sales in stores up 14% in 5th week
  of coronavirus lockdown but tripled via e-commerce
https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/sonomacounty/10930647-181/wine-sales-nielsen-commerce7-april-18-25

Survey of small US wineries shows impact of
  month-plus coronavirus lockdown of economy
https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/sonomacounty/10936718-181/wineamerica-coronavirus-impact-survey

The World's Most Wanted Sauvignon Blancs
https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2020/05/the-worlds-most-wanted-sauvignon-blancs

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

     1493 - Spanish Pope Alexander VI divided the land they called “America” between Spain and Portugal (it was basically the Caribbean Islands).
    1494 - Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica. The Arawak Indians were its first inhabitants. This was his second journey.  On his first, he basically discovered Cuba, and on his third, Trinidad, and on his fifth trip, 1502-1504, Martinique, exploring the coasts of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. He brought a lot of slaves back to Spain, his main find in the islands.
    1626 - Dutch colonist Peter Minuit arrived on the wooded island of Manhattan in present-day New York. He later bought Manhattan for $24, but from a tribe in Brooklyn, almost like buying the Brooklyn Bridge.  The story has been repeated so many times school children believe the borough was bought for beads.  Ironically, the Dutch had already established the town of New Amsterdam at the southern end of the island.  The American Indians had no comprehension of land ownership. Shortly thereafter, most of them were wiped out by small pox, influenza, and a host of diseases brought from Europe, against which they had no immunity.
(lower half:  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may04.html )
    1715 – The first folding umbrella debuted in France.
    1746 - The Moravians in Pennsylvania established the Moravian Women's Seminary at Bethlehem. It was the first educational institution of its kind established by the "Unitas Fratrum" in (colonial) America.
    1776 - Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.
    1780 - American Academy of Arts & Sciences founded
    1796 - Birthday of Horace Mann (d. 1859) at Franklin, MA. American educator, author, public servant, known as the "father of public education in the US". Founder of Westfield (MA) State College and editor of the influential Common School Journal. Historian Ellwood P. Cubberley asserted:  “No one did more than he to establish in the minds of the American people the conception that education should be universal, non-sectarian, free, and that its aims should be social efficiency, civic virtue, and character, rather than mere learning or the advancement of sectarian ends.” 
    1805 - Henry C. Overing bought 80 acres of Throggs Neck in The Bronx.
    1846 – Michigan outlawed the death penalty.
    1850 - A second Great San Francisco Fire broke out in the United States Exchange, a saloon and gambling house. The fire burned 300 building s and caused $4,000,000 damage.  At about 4:00 AM, a suspicious fire erupted in a building on the east side of the United States Exchange, a drinking and gambling house built where Dennison’s Exchange once stood. Before 11:00 AM, the conflagration consumed the block between Kearny, Clay, Washington, and Jackson. Again, dynamite and rope saved the city from complete destruction. With ashes still hot and smoking, the first evidence of arson was found. Within ten days San Franciscans had rebuilt half of their Phoenix City.
http://www.sffiremuseum.org/history/fires.html
It is interesting that on the same date, one year later, the 5th Great Fire almost destroyed San Francisco. The entire business district was destroyed in 10 hours, engulfing 18 Blocks and 2,000 buildings.
The 1906 Great Earthquake was not the cause of the major damage. It was the fire that was created by the quake that devastated the city.
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist5/5-51fire.html
    1861 – At Gretna, LA, one of the first guns of the Confederate Navy was cast.
    1863 – A defeated Union Army withdraws from the Battle of Chancellorsville.
    1864 - General Grant's Army of the Potomac attacks at Rappahannock, crosses the Rapidan and begins his duel with Robert E Lee.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?pp/cwp:@field(NUMBER
+@band(cwpb+01175))
http://www.civilwar-va.com/virginia/va-central/1864tour.html
    1864 - Over the objections of President Lincoln, the House of Representatives passed the Wade-Davis Reconstruction bill, containing stiff punitive measures against the South that, if put into law, would have destroyed Lincoln's more moderate reconstruction aims. The bill was also adamantly opposed by Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens, for whom it was insufficiently severe in its treatment of the Southern rebels. Lincoln eventually killed the bill by using the pocket veto. When Andrew Johnson became President, following Lincoln's assassination, he basically abandoned all Lincoln's reconstruction plans and set up to punish the South.
    1869 – The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first all-professional baseball team, started their first regular season with a 45 - 9 victory over the Great Westerns of Cincinnati.
    1871 – History recorded the first baseball game of the National Association of Baseball Players.  Ft Wayne 2, Cleveland 0 as Deacon Jim White got the first hit, a double.
    1886 - Chichester Bell and Charles Tainter received a US patent for the Graphophone. This invention replaced Thomas Edison's phonograph, and featured wax-coated cylinders. These were considered an improvement over the phonograph's tinfoil cylinders, which had been delicate and difficult to remove.
    1886 – Labor union unrest in Chicago led to violence as a crowd of unemployed men tried to enter the McCormick Reaper Works during a strike.  Anarchists called a mass meeting in Haymarket Square to avenge the massacre. Police advanced on the demonstrators, a bomb was thrown and several policemen were killed.  Four leaders of the demonstrators were hanged.  What became a worldwide controversy would become known as the Haymarket Square Riot.
    1891 - The first hospital open to all races as a matter of policy was the Provident Hospital, Chicago, Ill.  Although primarily for African-Americans, there was no racial barrier to the admission of patients or staff appointments of physicians. Dr. Frank Billings was chief consulting physician. Dr. Christian Fenger, chief consulting surgeon; and Drs. Ralph N. Isham and Daniel Hall Williams, attending surgeons.  A nursing school, the Provident Hospital Training School Association, was connected with the hospital.
    1893 - Cowboy Bob Pickett invented bulldogging
    1894 - Bird Day was observed for the first time.  Bird Day is a holiday established by Oil City, PA school superintendent Charles Babcock.   It was the first holiday in the United States dedicated to the celebration of birds.  Babcock intended it to advance bird conservation as a moral value
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may04.html
    1896 - Labor union unrest at Chicago led to violence when a crowd of unemployed men tried to enter the McCormick Reaper Works, where a strike was underway. Although no one was killed, anarchist groups called a mass meeting in Haymarket Square to avenge the “massacre”. When the police advanced on the demonstrators, a bomb was thrown and several policemen were killed. Four leaders of the demonstration were hanged and another committed suicide in jail. Three others were given jail terms. The case aroused considerable controversy around the world.
    1904 – The US began construction of the Panama Canal.
    1905 - Honky Tonk singer Al Dexter (d. 1984) was born in Jacksonville, Texas. He perfected his style in the oil-boom dance halls of East Texas. And he recorded one of the first songs to have the word "honky tonk" in its title, "Honky Tonk Blues." Dexter is best known as the composer of the wartime hit, "Pistol Packin' Mama."
    1907 - Mary Agness Hallaren (d. 2005) was born in Lowell, MA.  U.S. military commander with the rank of captain, she commanded the first WAC battalion of women to go overseas in World War II.  She became director of the WACS in May, 1947. On June 12, 1948 when the Armed Services Integration Act went into effect and the WACS became a component of the Regular Army, Col. Hallaren became the first woman to receive a commission in the Regular Army. She retired from the Army in 1960 and, in 1965, she became director of the Women in Community Service division of the U.S. Labor Department.
    1909 - Tel Aviv founded. In 1910, the suburb was named Tel Aviv after Nahum Sokolow's translation of “Altneuland,” Herzl's fictional depiction of the Jewish State.
http://www.wzo.org.il/home/dev/ta1.htm
http://www.wzo.org.il/home/aliyah/aliya2b.htm
http://alpha.furman.edu/~mcknight/cr9.htm
http://www.ddtravel-acc.com/tel.htm
    1910 - Congress required every passenger ship or other ships carrying 50 persons or more, leaving any port of United States, to be equipped with a radio (powerful enough to transmit to a 100-mile radius) and a qualified operator.
    1917 – Arabs sacked Tel Aviv.
    1918 – The Yankees set a Major League record with 8 sacrifice bunts on the way to defeating Babe Ruth and the Red Sox, 5-4.
    1919 – In the first legal Sunday baseball game in NYC, the Phillies beat the Giants 4-3 before a crowd of 35,000 at the Polo Grounds.  During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was considered offensive to work on Sunday, which was expected to be a day of worship and rest. In 1794, the Pennsylvania Assembly restricted activities on Sunday by passing what they called "an Act for the prevention of vice and immorality, and of unlawful gaming, and to restrain disorderly sports and dissipation."  In 1902, Sunday baseball games were legalized in Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati.  In 1917, the New York Giants and Cincinnati Red Legs played the first Sunday game ever at the Polo Grounds in NYC. However, after the game both managers, John McGraw and Christy Mathewson, were arrested for violating the blue laws. Judge McQuade found them not guilty.  The following year, Sunday baseball was legalized in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and Detroit.  One year after that, New York legalized baseball games on Sunday, and the New York and Brooklyn teams were allowed to have home games on Sunday.
    1923 – New York revoked Prohibition
    1925 – The League of Nations conferred on arms control and poison gas usage
    1926 – Drummer Sonny Payne (d. 1979) birthday, New York City.  Best known for “Atomic Bomb” Basie album.
http://www.angelfire.com/mac/keepitlive/drummers/Payne/payne.htm
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,477721,00.html?artist=
Sonny+Payne
    1928 - Canadian jazz trumpet player, “screamer,” Maynard Ferguson (d. 2006) was born in Montreal. He went to the US at the age of 20, playing in the big bands of Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnett and Stan Kenton. Ferguson won the Down Beat magazine readers' poll for trumpet in 1950, '51 and '52. He later formed his own big band, which in the 1970's turned in a jazz-rock direction. Ferguson's recording of "Gonna Fly Now," the theme from "Rocky," was a major hit single in 1977.
http://www.gr8music.com/Ferguson%2C_Maynard/mf-bio.html
http://www.maynard.ferguson.net/
http://www.super8filmmaking.com/maynard/maynard.htm
    1929 - Birthday of Audrey Hepburn (d. 1993), born Audrey Kathleen van Heemstra Ruston near Brussels, Belgium.  Her first major movie role in “Roman Holiday” (1953) won her an Academy Award as Best Actress.  She made 26 movies during her career and received four additional Oscar nominations. During the latter years of her life, Hepburn served as spokesperson for the United Nations Children's Fund, traveling worldwide raising money for the organization. Even when dying of cancer, she traded ceaselessly in Third World countries, always for the children, never stinting, giving everything she had. Answering a reporter's question about why she worked so hard for UNICEF, she answered simply, "I do not want to see mothers and fathers digging graves for their children." One can only guess that she saw too much of that when as a girl she was accidentally trapped in Holland during World War II. She suffered extreme hardships during the war and several of her relatives and friends were executed by the Nazis. She acted as a courier for the underground. She even had to eat tulip bulbs when food supplies ran out or they were confiscated by the Germans just before the Allied troops freed the Netherlands.
    1929 – Lou Gehrig hit three consecutive HRs as the Yanks beat the Tigers, 11-9.
    1932 - Public Enemy Number One, Al Capone, was jailed in the Atlanta Penitentiary for tax evasion.
    1937 - Bassist Ron Carter birthday, Ferndale, MI
http://www.roncarter.net/officialSite.html
http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/carter_ron/bio.jhtml
    1937 – Dick Dale born Richard Anthony Monsour (d. 2019) in Boston.  Known as The King of the Surf Guitar, he pioneered the surf music style, drawing on Eastern musical scales and experimenting with reverberation. He worked closely with Fender to produce custom made amplifiers, including the first-ever 100-watt guitar amplifier.   He pushed the limits of electric amplification technology, helping to develop new equipment that was capable of producing distorted, "thick, clearly defined tones" at "previously undreamed-of volumes." The "breakneck speed of his single-note staccato picking technique" as well as his showmanship with the guitar is considered a precursor to heavy metal, influencing guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. 
    1939 - In his first-ever AB in Detroit, Boston Red Sox rookie Ted Williams became the first player to hit a home run which totally clears the right field seats at Briggs Stadium.
    1940 - Duke Ellington bad records “Cotton Tail,” “Don't Get Around Much Anymore” for Victor.
    1941 – Birthday of writer George Will, Champaign, IL.  Will writes regular columns for The Washington Post and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC.  In 1986, The Wall Street Journal called him "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America," in a league with Walter Lippmann (1889–1974).   His numerous awards include the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1977.
    1942 - *POWERS, JOHN JAMES, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy. Born: 13 July 1912, New York City, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. Other Navy award: Air Medal with 1 gold star. Citation: For distinguished and conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty, while pilot of an airplane of Bombing Squadron 5, Lt. Powers participated, with his squadron, in 5 engagements with Japanese forces in the Coral Sea area and adjacent waters during the period 4 to 8 May 1942. Three attacks were made on enemy objectives at or near Tulagi on 4 May. In these attacks he scored a direct hit which instantly demolished a large enemy gunboat or destroyer and is credited with 2 close misses, 1 of which severely damaged a large aircraft tender, the other damaging a 20,000-ton transport. He fearlessly strafed a gunboat, firing all his ammunition into it amid intense antiaircraft fire. This gunboat was then observed to be leaving a heavy oil slick in its wake and later was seen beached on a nearby island. On 7 May, an attack was launched against an enemy airplane carrier and other units of the enemy's invasion force. He fearlessly led his attack section of 3 Douglas Dauntless dive bombers, to attack the carrier. On this occasion he dived in the face of heavy antiaircraft fire, to an altitude well below the safety altitude, at the risk of his life and almost certain damage to his own plane, in order that he might positively obtain a hit in a vital part of the ship, which would insure her complete destruction. This bomb hit was noted by many pilots and observers to cause a tremendous explosion engulfing the ship in a mass of flame, smoke, and debris. The ship sank soon after. That evening, in his capacity as Squadron Gunnery Officer, Lt. Powers gave a lecture to the squadron on point-of-aim and diving technique. During this discourse he advocated low release point in order to insure greater accuracy; yet he stressed the danger not only from enemy fire and the resultant low pull-out, but from own bomb blast and bomb fragments. Thus his low-dive bombing attacks were deliberate and premeditated, since he well knew and realized the dangers of such tactics, but went far beyond the call of duty in order to further the cause which he knew to be right. The next morning, 8 May, as the pilots of the attack group left the ready room to man planes, his indomitable spirit and leadership were well expressed in his own words, "Remember the folks back home are counting on us. 1 am going to get a hit if 1 have to lay it on their flight deck.'' He led his section of dive bombers down to the target from an altitude of 18,000 feet, through a wall of bursting antiaircraft shells and into the face of enemy fighter planes. Again, completely disregarding the safety altitude and without fear or concern for his safety, Lt. Powers courageously pressed home his attack, almost to the very deck of an enemy carrier and did not release his bomb until he was sure of a direct hit. He was last seen attempting recovery from his dive at the extremely low altitude of 200 feet, and amid a terrific barrage of shell and bomb fragments, smoke, flame and debris from the stricken vessel.
    1942 – The Battle of Coral Sea begins in the Pacific.  This was the first sea battle fought solely in the air, between Japanese, US and Australian navies and air forces.
    1945 – German Adm. Donitz sends envoys to the headquarters of Field Marshal Montgomery, at Luneburg Heath, and they sign an agreement, at 1820 hrs., for the surrender of German forces in Holland, Denmark and northern Germany. The Germans also agree to the Allied demand that German submarines should be surrendered rather than scuttled -- in the German naval tradition. The surrender becomes effective on May 5th. Meanwhile, in continuing fighting to the south, Salzburg is captured by American forces. Other units push into Czechoslovakia toward Pilsen. German forces conduct rearguard actions, in northern Germany, in Czechoslovakia and Austria, as the bulk of the German forces attempt to disengage and reach the Anglo-American lines.
    1948 - Twenty-five-year-old Norman Mailer's first novel, “The Naked and the Dead,” is published.  The book, which closely chronicles the lives of 13 soldiers stationed in the Pacific, presents a fictional story with precise, journalistic detail.
    1951 - The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill to raise the maximum strength of the Marine Corps to 400,000 -- double its strength at the time. The bill also made the Commandant of the Marine Corps a consultant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
    1956 - Top Hits
“Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One” - Elvis Presley
“Moonglow and Theme from 'Picnic'” - Morris Stoloff
“Standing on the Corner” - The Four Lads
“Blue Suede Shoes” - Carl Perkins    1957 - "The Alan Freed Show" debuted on ABC-TV. The legendary disc jockey's rock 'n' roll variety show was cancelled some months later after black teenage singer Frankie Lymon was shown dancing with a white girl.
    1959 - The first Grammy Awards were presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Record of the year and song of the year was "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" - better known as "Volare" - by Domenico Modugno. Henry Mancini won the Album of the Year award for "The Music from Peter Gunn" and the Kingston Trio won the first country Grammy for "Tom Dooley."
    1960 - The birth control pill was approved by the FDA in the U.S. It was developed at the Worcester Center for Experimental Biology. The work was financed by Katherine McCormick who gave the center $150,000 a year from 1953 on to develop an oral contraceptive. McCormick was the second woman graduate of M.I.T. She married into the McCormick family and took over the International Harvester business when her husband became hopelessly insane.
    1961 - 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, Alabama while local police watched. In Mississippi, Freedom Riders were jailed. They never made it to New Orleans. The rides were patterned after a similar challenge to segregation, the 1947 Journey of Reconciliation, which tested the US Supreme Court's June 3, 1946 ban against segregation in interstate bus travel.
    1963 - Andy Williams's album, “Days of Wine and Roses,” hit the Number 1 spot on the LP pop chart, and stayed there for 16 weeks.
    1963 - The Beach Boys "Surfin U.S.A." LP debuts on the charts.
    1964 - Top Hits
“Can't Buy Me Love” - The Beatles
“Hello Dolly!” - Louis Armstrong
“Bits and Pieces” - The Dave Clark Five
“My Heart Skips a Beat” - Buck Owens
    1964 - “Another World,” created by lrna Phillips and sponsored by P&G, this soap was set in fictional Bay City. It was the first soap to air for a full hour and the first to beget two spin-offs (“Somerset” and “Texas”). Charles Durning, Ted Shackelford, Eric Roberts, Ray Liotta, Kyra Sedgwick, Faith Ford, Morgan Freeman, Jackëe Harry, Victoria Wyndham and Valarie Pettiford are some of its well-known alums. The show was cancelled in 1999 and the last episode aired June 25, 1999.
    1964 - The Beatles set a "Billboard" magazine Top 100 chart all-time record when, today, all five of the top songs were by the British rock group. The Beatles also had the number one album with "Meet the Beatles", the top album from February 15 through May 2, when it was replaced by "The Beatles Second Album". During the first three months of 1964, it was estimated The Beatles accounted for 60 percent of the entire singles record business. The top five Beatles singles, setting the record, were: 1) “Can't Buy Me Love,” 2) “Twist and Shout,” 3) “She Loves You,” 4) “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” 5) “Please Please Me.”
    1964 - Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder formed an R&B group, the Moody Blues, named after Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo."
    1966 - Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock" enters the Hot 100. During its eleven week chart run, it will peak at #3.
    1966 - Del Shannon enters the Billboard Hot 100 for the 16th time with "The Big Hurt," which will stall at #94.
    1966 - The Mamas and Papas hit #1 in the US with "Monday, Monday," a song that the group would later admit that they didn't really like.
    1966 – SF Giants’ CF Willie Mays established a new National League career HR record when he hit his 512th, surpassing the total of former NY Giants great Mel Ott. Mays' blast against Claude Osteen put him fourth on the all-time list.  Mays retired with the second highest total, 660, behind only Babe Ruth at the time.
    1967 - The Turtles receive their first of two Gold singles for their recent #1 Pop hit, "Happy Together." Their second Gold single will come later for "She'd Rather Be with Me."
    1968 - FOURNET, DOUGLAS B., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Place and date: A Shau Valley, Republic of Vietnam, 4 May 1968. Entered service at: New Orleans, La. Born: 7 May 1943, Lake Charles, La. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Fournet, Infantry, distinguished himself in action while serving as rifle platoon leader of the 2d Platoon, Company B. While advancing uphill against fortified enemy positions in the A Shau Valley, the platoon encountered intense sniper fire, making movement very difficult. The right flank man suddenly discovered an enemy claymore mine covering the route of advance and shouted a warning to his comrades. Realizing that the enemy would also be alerted, 1st Lt. Fournet ordered his men to take cover and ran uphill toward the mine, drawing a sheath knife as he approached it. With complete disregard for his safety and realizing the imminent danger to members of his command, he used his body as a shield in front of the mine as he attempted to slash the control wires leading from the enemy positions to the mine. As he reached for the wire the mine was detonated, killing him instantly. Five men nearest the mine were slightly wounded, but 1st Lt. Fournet's heroic and unselfish act spared his men of serious injury or death. His gallantry and willing self-sacrifice are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
    1968 - Top British model Twiggy saw a performance by an 18-year-old Welsh singer named Mary Hopkin and immediately recommended her to Paul McCartney as a possible addition to the Apple Records roster. Six months later, Hopkin's first record, "Those Were the Days," was sitting behind "Hey Jude" in the number 2 position.
    1970 - Still fresh in the minds of students who were attending college during this time are four students - Allison Krause, 19; Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20;  Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20;  and William K. Schroeder, 19 – who were killed by the Ohio National Guard during demonstrations against the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Ohio.  After seeing the photos later that week in Life magazine, Neil Young immediately writes the song "Ohio," which Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young will record the next day.
    1972 - Top Hits
“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” - Roberta Flack
“I Gotcha” - Joe Tex
“Betcha By Golly, Wow” - The Stylistics
“Chantilly Lace” - Jerry Lee Lewis
    1973 - Led Zeppelin open their 1973 U.S. tour, which is billed as the "biggest and most profitable rock & roll tour in the history of the United States." A group spokesman predicts the group will gross over $3 million.
    1974 - The first skyscraper higher than 1,400 feet in height was the 110-story Sears Building of Sears, Roebuck and Company, measuring 1,454 feet high located on Jackson Boulevard between Adams and Franklin streets in Chicago.
http://www.sears-tower.com/index.html
http://www.the-skydeck.com/homeDefault.htm
    1975 - Baseball's One Millionth Run. Bob Watson of the Houston Astros raced around the bases on Milt May's home run against the San Francisco Giants and crossed the plate with what was declared to be the one millionth run scored in major league baseball history. Watson's hustle paid off. Davey Concepcion of the Cincinnati Reds scored another run in a different game in a different city seconds later.
    1976 - The Illinois Legislature declares today as Rick Monday Day because of his patriotic gesture of saving the American flag from being burned in Los Angeles by two fans in center field in Dodger Stadium.  He was playing CF for the visiting Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, when two protestors ran into the outfield and tried to set fire to an American flag. Monday dashed over and grabbed the flag to thunderous cheers. He handed the flag to Los Angeles pitcher Doug Rau, and the ballpark police officers arrested the two intruders.
    1976 - KISS performs their first concert in their hometown of New York City.
    1978 - Jefferson Starship receives a platinum record for what will be their last LP with Grace Slick and Marty Balin. Just a few weeks later, both are gone and the band has to be revamped.
    1980 - Top Hits
“Call Me” - Blondie
“Ride like the Wind” - Christopher Cross
“Lost in Love” - Air Supply
“Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again” - Debby Boone
    1980 - An acoustic performance by the East Los Angeles band Los Lobos brought a hostile response from an Olympic Auditorium audience who came to hear Punk music. Opening for Public Image Ltd, the group was bombarded with bottles and other debris. It would take seven more years for the band to crack the Hot 100 with a couple of Richie Valens songs, "La Bamba" (#1) and "Come On, Let's Go" (#21).
    1988 - Top Hits
“Where Do Broken Hearts Go” - Whitney Houston
“Wishing Well” - Terence Trent D'Arby
“Angel” - Aerosmith
“It's Such a Small World” - Rodney Crowell & Rosanne Cash
    1989 - Col. Oliver North was found guilty in the investigations into the Iran-Contra affair.
    1989 – Golfer Rory McIlroy was born in Holywood, Northern Ireland.  He was #1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for 95 weeks. He is a four-time major champion, winning the 2011 US Open, (setting a tournament record score of −16), 2012 PGA Championship (with a tournament record margin of victory (8 strokes), 2104 Open Championship, and 2014 PGA Championship. Along with Nicklaus, Woods and Spieth, he is one of four players to win three majors by the age of 25. 
    1991 - Indians' first baseman Chris James establishes the club record for RBIs by driving in nine runs with a pair of homers and two singles, helping Cleveland to crush the A's, 20-6.
    1994 - Top Hits
“The Sign” - Ace of Base
“Bump N Grind” - R. Kelly
“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” - The Artist
“Return to Innocence” - Enigma
    1995 - Twenty-five years after the Kent State Massacre, Peter, Paul, and Mary played a commemorative concert at the university, performing Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind."
    1998 - The Clinton administration invoked sanctions against North Korea and Pakistan for a secret 1997 missile deal. Pakistan’s military named the acquired missile, Ghauri, after a famous Muslim warrior who slew a Hindu emperor named Prithvi, the name of a Russian made Indian missile.
    1998 - A federal judge in Sacramento gave “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
    1999 - Top Hits
“Livin La Vida Loca” - Ricky Martin
“No Scrubs” - TLC
“Kiss Me” - Sixpence None the Richer
“Every Morning” - Sugar Ray
    2006 - A federal judge sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison for his role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
    2007 – Greensburg, KS was almost completely destroyed by a 1.7 mi wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita Scale.
    2008 – Seth MacFarlane reached an agreement worth $100 million with Fox to keep "Family Guy" and "American Dad" on television until 2012, making MacFarlane the world's highest paid television writer.
    2008 - Martha Reeves' home in Detroit was burglarized and one million dollars' worth of recording equipment stolen. In just a few hours, the perpetrator was caught while attempting to hock the merchandise for $400.
    2010 - An auction at Christie's in New York set a record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction when Pablo Picasso's 'Nude, Green Leaves and Bust' sold for $106 million.
    2011 – President Obama chose not to release photos of Osama bin Laden following his death, saying they could incite violence and be used by militants as a propaganda tool.  Attorney General Eric Holder, seeking to head off suggestions that killing bin Laden was illegal, said the U.S. commandos who raided his Pakistani hide-out on Monday had carried out a justifiable act of national self-defense. In deciding not to make public the pictures of the corpse, Obama resisted arguments that to do so could counter skeptics who have argued there is no proof that bin Laden, who was rapidly buried at sea by U.S. forces, is dead. “I think that given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk,” Obama told the CBS program “60 Minutes.” “It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence. As a propaganda tool,” the president added.

Stanley Cup Champions
    1969 - Montreal Canadiens