Good News! ELFA Monthly Leasing and Finance Report
April Down only 8% Month-to-Month 7% YOY April, 2019
         
By Christopher Menkin, Editor

(Chart: Leasing News)

The 35 companies who contributed to the Equipment Leasing and Finance monthly report for April new business volume was only down $8.2 billion or 8 percent month-to-month. Year-to-date the cumulative new business volume was up 10 percent compared to 2019.

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(Chart: ELFA)

The difficulties in finance do not reflect the good fortune of most banks and leasing companies.  The financial difficulties and delinquencies appear to be in unsecured working capital loans, merchant cash advance, and business loans. Capital leasing and operating leases for larger transactions appear popular to many industries outside of restaurant, recreational, travel and retail stores, and continue to grow in the health and technology businesses. The companies who advertise up to 20% in commissions for business loans and working capital are still advertising; by the way, online and several industry free magazines.

*Products offered by National Funding and affiliates are business loans only. The products may be provided by third parties and subject to lender approval. In California, loans made or arranged pursuant to a California Financing Law License.

Receivables over 30 days were 3.00 percent, up from 2.60 percent the previous month and up from 1.50 percent the same period in 2019. Charge-offs were 0.80 percent, up from 0.55 percent the previous month, and up from 0.32 percent in the year-earlier period.

Credit approvals totaled 71.7 percent, down from 74.2 percent in March. Total headcount for equipment finance companies was down 4.8 percent year-over-year. Could have been a lot worse due to all the furloughs.

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Full Listing of 35 MLFI Participants

Bank of America Global Leasing
Bank of the West
BB&T Bank
BMO Harris Equipment Finance
Canon Financial Services
Caterpillar Financial Services
CIT
Citizens Asset Finance
Dell Financial Services
DLL
Fifth Third Bank
First American Equipment Finance, a City National Bank Company
Frost Equipment Leasing and Finance
GreatAmerica Financial Services
Hitachi Capital America
HP, Inc.
HPE Financial Services Company
Huntington Equipment Finance
John Deere Financial
Key Equipment Finance
LEAF Commercial Capital Inc.
M&T Bank
Marlin Capital Solutions
Merchants Bank Equipment Finance
PNC Equipment Finance
Societe Generale Equipment Finance
Siemens Financial Services
Stearns Bank
Stonebriar Commercial Finance
TCF Capital Solutions, a division of TCF National Bank
TD Equipment Finance
TIAA Commercial Finance, Inc.
US Bancorp Business Equipment Finance
Volvo Financial Services
Wells Fargo Equipment Finance

 

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New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
and Related Industries

Anthony S Brancato was hired as Senior Product Development Manager, Reliant Funding, San Diego, California.  He is located in Farmingdale, New York.  Previously, he was Credit Manager/Internal Sales/Portfolio Analyst/Collections Specialist/Senior Underwrite, Platinum Rapid Funding Group (June, 2017 - March, 2020). Prior, he was at Underwriting Team Lead, Merchants Capital Access, starting November, 2016, Senior Client Retention Underwriter (November, 2016 - February, 2017); promoted March, 2017, Underwriting Team Lead;  Booking Agent dba Skyline Band Management, Lou Peragrine Band Management (January, 2013 - September, 2015); Personal Banker, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (September, 2009 - December, 2010); Customer Service Representative/Store Supervisor, TD (September, 2005 - September, 2009). Volunteer:  Food Server, Tim Tebow Foundation (February, 2020).  Baptism Prep Volunteer, St Kilian's Roman Catholic Church (February, 2019 =- Present).  Education: Stony Brook University. Business Administration, Finance (2004 - 2008).  Journalism Minor. https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-s-brancato-35119866/

Dante Bush was hired as Relationship Manager, Contend Capital, Tampa, Florida.  Previously, he was Senior Representative, Inside Sales, EVO Payments, Inc. (March, 2020 - May, 2020). Prior, he started at Regents Capital Corporation August, 2018, as Account Executive; promoted Senior Account Executive, January, 2019;  Student Fund Raisers, Ruffalo Noel Levitz (July, 2017 - September, 2017); Call Center Representative, Prime Equity Mortgage (May, 2015 - August, 2015).  Volunteer: Fundraising Volunteer, Dance Marathon at Florida State University (February, 2015 - Present); Assistant Chair, Nu Delta Cahpater of Chi Phi Relay for Life Team, Florida State University (April, 2015 - Present); Community Service Volunteer, Habitat for Humanity (April, 2013 - April, 2014).  Education: Florida State University, Bachelor's degree, Finance, General (2014 - 2018). Activities and Societies: Dean's List, The Chi Phi Fraternity, Economics Club.  Damien High School. Activities and Societies: Dean's List, Swim Team Capitan. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dante-bush-ab7b19108/

Francisca Yanett Mercado Castro was hired as Direct Banking Relationship Manager, Tri Counties Bank, Chico, California. Previously, she was Regional Sales Manager, Ascentium Capital (October, 2018 - 2020); Account Executive, TopMark Funding, LLC (May, 2017); Account Manager, Go Capital USA (May, 2017 - October, 2017). https://www.linkedin.com/in/francisca-yanett-mercado-castro-340306155/

Joel Johnson, CLFP, was promoted to Regional Vice President, First American Equipment Finance, Fairport, New York. He joined the firm July, 2004, as Assistant Vice President; promoted 2004, Vice President.  Previously, he was Sales Associate, Sutherland Global Services (January, 2003 - April, 2004); Elementary Art Teacher, Honeoye Central School (2002).  Certification: Certificate Lease and Finance Professional (May, 2018).  Education: State University of New York College at Fredonia. Art, Illustration (1996 - 2001). Activities and Societies: Treasurer of the Fredonia Club Hockey Team, Member of the Native American Club, Radio DJ "Radio Clash," DJ at Muldoon's.  Rochester Institution of Technology. Master, Art Education (2001 - 2002). https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeljohnson2/

Jason D. McKinney was hired as Vice President, Asset Management, Regions Bank Equipment Finance, Waukesha, Wisconsin. Previously, he was Commercial Auto and Equipment Leasing Group Manager, North Shore Bank (April, 2018 - May, 2020); Sr. Portfolio Manager, Asset Management, GE Capital (2014 - 2019); Senior Credit and Lease Analyst, GM Financial (2012 - 2014).Education: Concordia University, Wisconsin. Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.).  Maranatha Baptist University. Bachelor of Arts (BA), Business Concentration. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-d-mckinney-mba-5306b710/

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The Best Originators Pivot

Sales Makes it Happen by Scott Wheeler, CLFP

Originators in the commercial equipment leasing and finance industry are often required to pivot away from one stream of business and explore new avenues for future business. Many originators are currently facing change and are being forced to find new channels of opportunities. One of the benefits of the industry is that there are always new channels, new opportunities, and new clients to serve in every economic cycle. This is not the first time originators have been asked (required) to pivot.

Prior to the 1986 Tax Reform Act, many originators strictly sold a tax product, driven by investment tax credits (ITC). In July of 1986, Congress basically eliminated the product. Originators pivoted and started selling cash flow savings, rather than tax benefits, and sales volumes quickly resumed. I knew of many originators that had their best years in 1987 and 1988, when in July of 1986 they thought the world was coming to an end.

In the early 1990's, I managed a sales team with nearly 50% of our volume being generated through copier vendors. The company, with my input, decided on a Friday that we were going to pivot away from the copier business. On Monday morning, I notified the team that the company would no longer fund copier transactions. Six months later our sales volume was hitting record numbers with not one copier transaction included. The company found a new niche that was more profitable and the team was entrenched in a new direction.

In the early 2000's, I helped a company pivot away from 100% vendor-driven business to nearly 75% end-user-driven business. The change was daunting at first, but ultimately the pivot allowed the company to increase profitability and sales volume.  

After the 2008 downturn, many companies had to reinvent themselves in the market. Originators were asked to leave the past behind and find new niches; to change from being generalists to niche players. Originators were force to pivot; to innovate, to create new channels of business, and to embrace major changes.

Many of today's most successful originators have embraced change over the years. They have pivoted several times during their careers. Top originators are survivors. Top originators innovate and find new means to serve new markets, new clients, and new opportunities.

As the economic recovery begins, top originators will once again be asked to lead the industry forward, to leave excuses behind, and to pivot into new opportunities. Embrace Change.

Survive - Thrive - Pivot 

Order via Amazon: https://www.createspace.com/5355516

Scott A. Wheeler, CLFP
Wheeler Business Consulting
1314 Marquis Ct.
Fallston, Maryland 21047
Phone: 410 877 0428
Fax: 410 877 8161
Email: scott@wheelerbusinessconsulting.com
Web: www.wheelerbusinessconsulting.com 

Sales Makes it Happen articles:
http://www.leasingnews.org/Legacy/index.html

Federal Reserve Beige Book  May, 2020
Mezza Mezza

Overall Economic Activity

"Economic activity declined in all Districts – falling sharply in most – reflecting disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consumer spending fell further as mandated closures of retail establishments remained largely in place during most of the survey period. Declines were especially severe in the leisure and hospitality sector, with very little activity at travel and tourism businesses.

Auto sales were substantially lower than a year ago, although several Districts noted recent improvement. A majority of Districts reported sharp drops in manufacturing activity, and production was notably weak in auto, aerospace, and energy-related plants.

Residential home sales plunged due in part to fewer new listings and to restrictions on home showings in many areas. Construction activity also fell as new projects failed to materialize in many Districts.

Commercial real estate contacts mentioned that a large number of retail tenants had deferred or missed rent payments. Bankers reported strong demand for PPP loans.

Agricultural conditions worsened, with several Districts reporting reduced production capacity at meat-processing plants due to closures and social distancing measures.

Energy activity plummeted as firms announced oil well closures, which led to historically low levels of active drilling rigs. Although many contacts expressed hope that overall activity would pick-up as businesses reopened, the outlook remained highly uncertain and most contacts were pessimistic about the potential pace of recovery.

12 Federal Reserve Districts’ Monthly reports:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beigebook202005.htm

 

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The race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19 has starkly illustrated just how important the procedure has become in preventing devastating outbreaks of disease. $8 billion has now been pledged by 40 countries and donors in an effort to fund research and development of a safe and effective vaccine or treatment for coronavirus. Vaccines have been around for a long time and the first one is generally credited to Edward Jenner, an English doctor who injected pus from a cowpox pustule into an incision on an eight-year old's arm on May 14, 1796. The boy then proved immune to smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases at that time.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows just how effective vaccination has been in eradicating major diseases in the United States. Take smallpox as an example. In the 20th century, it was responsible for 29,000 cases on average annually and in 2019, none were recorded, a 100 percent decrease. Even though the measles has made a minor resurgence in recent years (due to anti-vaccine decision making), its morbidity (case count) is nowhere near average annual highs in the 20th century when half a million people were infected. Its prevalence has fallen by more than 99 percent due to vaccinations, along with a whole host of other diseases such as pertussis (whooping cough), mumps, rubella, polio and diphtheria.

By Niall McCarthy, Statista

https://www.statista.com/chart/21641/historical-morbidity-and-vaccinations/

 

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

5 Takeaways: Operational Resiliency
for the Pandemic and Beyond
ELFA Webinar Provides Tools and Resources

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The current pandemic has reinforced the need for equipment finance companies to focus on their operational resiliency efforts now and for the long term. Steps to address the needs caused by the crisis and take a more holistic approach to building long-term resilience was the topic of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s May 13 webinar, “Operational Resiliency: Tools for the Pandemic and Beyond.”

A total of 120 industry executives participated in the in-depth, online event presented by Mike Campbell, CEO Fusion Risk Management and former ELFA Board Member; Andy Lapierre, CBCP, ARMP, Senior Vice President & Business Continuity Manager, Frost Bank; and David Nolan, Founder and Strategic Advisor, Fusion Risk Management. They offered their combined experience to provide “lessons learned” and best practices for resiliency planning to address situations whether in a pandemic, natural disaster or other business disruption.

In kicking off the webinar, Campbell noted that no plan, no matter how good, “survives the first shot fired.” He added, however, that while most crisis scenarios are unplannable, that does not mean they are unrepairable. As equipment finance companies consider their resiliency preparedness, below are five highlights from the webinar.

1 Being prepared starts with being informed.

Start with the “information foundation” of how your business works, its processes and its services. Determining how your company’s processes, technology and people work together will help identify where a break in operations may occur so you can prepare, protect and respond to the threat. Nolan noted that a lack of visibility and insight is at the root of frustration for many who are trying to build resiliency, while being informed enables and empowers organizations.

2 Think collectively, act collaboratively.

Many businesses think and act in silos when it comes to areas such as risk management, third-party risk, crisis management, disaster recovery and business continuity. However, in a pandemic or other crisis, needs arise that do not fit neatly into any one silo and cut across response areas. A crisis like the pandemic requires everyone to work together toward the same goal of protecting against anything that could impact your ability to continue to deliver your products and services. 

3 Four impact types will determine your fate.

Planning for potential scenarios can be virtually unlimited so it’s helpful to think in terms of how they affect four key “impact types” of a business: workplace, supply chain, workforce and technology. In a natural disaster such as a hurricane, there can be failures in workplace and supply chain conditions to address. In the current pandemic all four impact types have been activated at once.

4 Test on a regular basis.

The best preparation for the redundancy, flexibility and resources required during a disruption will fall short without testing on a regular basis. Lapierre noted that Frost Bank conducts on average six different tests throughout the year, including table-top and full-scale exercises. Getting people familiarized and involved will prepare them to maintain business operations.

5 Failure to prepare has a price.

There are financial, reputation, trust and brand impacts that can result from a failure to prepare. As Nolan noted, “It can take decades to build a brand, and one or two bad experiences to destroy it.” However, some good news during the pandemic is the spirit of empathy and understanding being extended since everyone has been impacted at once. As a result, businesses won’t be judged as harshly as if they were the only ones struggling.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a learning experience to determine if your business is doing what is required for operational resiliency. Now is a good time to capture lessons learned and take the necessary steps so that your business is better prepared for whatever uncertainty the future holds.

Learn More
A recording of the webinar, webinar slides and two handouts, “After-Action Report Guidelines” and “Fusion Post COVID-19 Planning for a New Normal” are available at www.elfaonline.org/events/2020/WW051320.

More Webinars to Come
The May 13 webinar was part of ELFA’s “Wednesday Webinar” series designed to help equipment finance professionals navigate the current market and regulatory landscape and anticipate the changing environment in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The free webinars include live Q&A sessions so participants can connect with experts and colleagues on the issues they are grappling with. All of the events qualify for 1 CPE credit. To register for upcoming webinars or view recordings of past events, go to www.elfaonline.org/events/elearning/web-seminars. 

About ELFA
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) is the trade association that represents companies in the nearly $1 trillion equipment finance sector, which includes financial services companies and manufacturers engaged in financing capital goods. ELFA members are the driving force behind the growth in the commercial equipment finance market and contribute to capital formation in the U.S. and abroad. Its 575 members include independent and captive leasing and finance companies, banks, financial services corporations, broker/packagers and investment banks, as well as manufacturers and service providers. For more information, please visit www.elfaonline.org.

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

 

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Watch at Home
By Fernando F. Croce

A towering presence in European art cinema, French actor Michel Piccoli (1925-2020) brought subtlety, class, humor and irony to his work with a slew of great directors. So check out five of this masterful performer’s best roles.

Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963): Though he’s best known for his bold cinematic experiments, director Jean-Luc Godard has occasionally flirted with mainstream projects. Among them is this seminal French New Wave drama, which magnificently braids relationship troubles with a changing movie industry. Piccoli is splendid as Paul, a screenwriter working on a modern version of “The Odyssey” for a movie directed by the legendary Fritz Lang (appearing as himself). While Lang clashes with the crass American producer (Jack Palance), Paul finds himself drifting apart from his wife Camille (Brigitte Bardot), who becomes disillusioned with him. Using big stars and a big budget, Godard offers a piercing study of marital breakdown coupled with artistic integrity. The results are dizzyingly multilayered, piquantly personal, and profoundly melancholy. With subtitles.

Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel, 1967): Kindred spirits in elegant anarchy and twisted humor, Piccoli and Spanish surrealist director Luis Bunuel often worked together. This may be their best-known collaboration, a tantalizing study of the enigmas of a wealthy housewife. In her greatest screen role, Catherine Deneuve stars as Severine, beautiful, young, and bored by her role as a bourgeois bride. She daydreams of erotic escape, but only takes steps in making them real after she learns of a luxurious brothel, where her chilly façade becomes a popular attraction. Piccoli plays Henri, a friend of Severine’s husband who plays a key role in her secret desires. As coolly deadpan as its heroine, Bunuel’s darkly delicate comedy is an all-time classic of dreamlike, subversive cinema. With subtitles.

Wedding in Blood (Claude Chabrol, 1973): Claude Chabrol specialized in moody thrillers that exposed the dark impulses behind the posh façade of the bourgeoisie, and this is among his most underrated works. Set in a provincial French town, it chronicles the affair between deputy mayor Pierre (Piccoli) and Lucienne (Stephane Audran), the mayor’s bored wife. When her husband gets wise to their romance and starts blackmailing Pierre, the couple plans to kill him and make it look like an accident. With the police as well as Lucienne’s suspicious daughter on their trail, it’s only a matter of time for the truth to come out. With evocations of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” but based on a true story, this is a potent mix of danger and romance. With subtitles.

La Belle Noiseuse (Jacques Rivette, 1991): The nature of art and collaboration is the theme of this leisurely, immersive drama, which gives Piccoli a complex, juicy role. He plays Frenhofer, a famous painter who has for years lost his creative spark, leaving several unfinished works. When he’s visited by a young couple, he slowly starts getting his inspiration back—not for Nicholas (David Bursztein), an aspiring artist looking for a mentor, but rather for Marianne (Emmanuelle Beart), Nicholas’ beautiful wife. As she becomes the older man’s model, a bond grows between them, while tensions grow with Frenhofer’s wife Liz (Jane Birkin). Known for his long and mysterious films, director Jacques Rivette offers a masterful meditation on the artistic process, insightful, gorgeous, and sensual. With subtitles.

We Have a Pope (Nanni Moretti, 2011): With his personal, sharp, melancholy comedies, Nanni Moretti is often described as the Italian Woody Allen. Here he takes a gently satirical look at religious institutions by imagining what would happen if the newly appointed Pope (Piccoli) suffered a severe attack of stage fright. With the whole world waiting for him, the Pope tries to sooth his nerves, befriends his psychiatrist (played by Moretti himself) and, finally, sneaks off into the outside world for one last journey of fun. Something of a geriatric version of “Roman Holiday,” full of rueful humor and graced with a touching autumnal performance by Piccoli, this is both a feast for the Moretti fan as well as a newcomer’s ideal introduction to his films. With subtitles.

Shepherd/Mixed
Washington, D.C.  Adopt-a-Dog

Manning
Pet ID # 20-0009
Male
3 Years Old
56 lbs
Good with Dogs
Not tested with Kit, Cats

Hi, I'm Manning! I'm at 3 year old Shepherd mix with a gentle and kind personality. I can be shy because I was rescued from a home where I was well cared for, but did not get a lot of good socialization. I lived in a barn with Iris, Odin and Aria. I will not do well in the city or an apartment -- I need a home with a fenced back yard and an experienced dog owner who will be able to be patient and loving with me as I open up and bond. I also absolutely must have another confident dog in the home to show me the way! I don't know how I would be around children, sometimes loud noises scare me and I've never lived with them. I need a family who can be committed to helping me come out of my shell. What will this journey be like for us? Here is what my foster mom has to say!

Week 1:

Dog beds are new to him but he finds them comfortable. He will sleep in a crate, but with the door open. He gets a lot of anxiety locked in a crate and will try to get out. He's also good about getting out of baby gates.

Discovering the toy box was fun and he's slowly learning what the purpose of a toy is. He loves to chew on them and loves the squeaky toys!

He is startled easily and seems to be scared of men

He loves to spend time in the backyard but won't come to us when called so we have to leave the door open for now to get him to come back in. We hand walk him in the backyard to get him used to the harness and the leash.

He will require a lot of patience in order for him to adjust to his new life.
 

Week 2:

He's starting to come around and sleeps under my desk when I work.

Enjoys playing with his toys and is getting more comfortable in our home.

He still howls when my husband walks in the room but eventually warms up.

He does have accidents in the house, but we expected that he would have to be house trained and are working on that.
 

Week 3:

My husband is able to walk him now

He LOVES his toys! He does like to collect things that are not toys, so you have to puppy proof your house.

He acts like a puppy and loves to play with our other dogs.

He will make the right patient owner a very good and loyal companion!
 

Adoption Application:  http://bit.ly/adoptrdr

Adoption Process: In order to adopt, we require an adoption application. After you submit an application, if you pass the screening, we will contact you to schedule a phone interview. We will call your references, including your veterinarian and landlord (when appropriate). We will also conduct a home visit. After these steps are complete, you will be approved to adopt a dog.

Please note this process takes 1-2 weeks so applications submitted when you are ready to bring a dog home within that time frame. You can meet our adoptable dogs at events, however, we cannot guarantee that dogs at events do not have pre-approved applicants meeting them there as well, so the application is the best way to start the process.

Rural Dog Rescue
733 8th Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
info@ruraldogrescue.com
http://www.ruraldogrescue.com

Application:
https://rdr.formstack.com/forms/adopt

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15 Brokers Are Chosen to Receive One Year of Membership
from American Association of Commercial Finance Broker Webinar

News Briefs----

Dr. Anthony Fauci on How America Can Avoid
   a Second Wave of the Coronavirus
https://www.newsweek.com/dr-anthony-fauci-how-america-can-avoid-second-wave-coronavirus-1506785

Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs
    with thousands more planned
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boeing-jobs/boeing-cutting-more-than-12000-u-s-jobs-with-thousands-more-planned-idUSKBN2332EP

Amtrak to cut up to 20 percent of workers
   as coronavirus crushes ridership
https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/amtrak-to-axe-up-to-1-in-5-workers-amid-coronavirus-crisis/

Tuesday Morning files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,
  citing coronavirus, Close 230 of 687 stores
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tuesday-morning-bankruptcy-filing-chapter-11-coronavirus/

“I still think that we have a good chance, if all the things fall in the right place, that we might have a vaccine that would be deployable by the end of the year, by November-December,” Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @jimsciutto.https://t.co/wmHCTqWhJD pic.twitter.com/xVmDR1SKZb

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) May 27, 2020

 

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You May Have Missed---

Las Vegas to Open Strip. What are the Odds?
    A Socially Distanced Las Vegas?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/business/coronavirus-las-vegas-casinos.html

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Sports Briefs---

Raiders considering moving training camp to Henderson
https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/raiders/raiders-considering-moving-training-camp-to-henderson-2036168/

With or Without the Say of Players,
   College Football Moves Toward a Return
https://www.nytimes.com/section/sports

N.H.L. Announces Plan to Return Straight Into the Playoffs
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/sports/hockey/nhl-return-coronavirus.html

Nevius: Getting to know 49ers players in a new way
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/sports/10984732-181/nevius-getting-to-know-49ers

Sharks season done as NHL going straight to postseason, if it    
      resumes NHL increases playoff teams from 16 to 24,
           but Sharks still won’t qualify if any games return
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/26/sharks-season-done-as-nhl-going-straight-to-postseason-if-it-resumes/

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California Nuts Briefs---

Coronavirus:100,000 dead in US, 100,000 cases in California:
   Where coronavirus pandemic stands
https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article243035036.html?

CA Hair Salons, Barbershops Can Open With Modifications, Gov. Says
https://patch.com/california/losgatos/s/h4l1t/ca-hair-salons-barbershops-can-open-with-modifications-gov-says

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“Gimme that Wine”

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

State efforts to ease restrictions on to-go wine
   clash with Napa County regulations
https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/state-efforts-to-ease-restrictions-on-to-go-wine-clash-with-napa-county-regulations/article_475ec996-9e7b-569f-9d0f-545105a13ad4.html

Napa Valley shouldn’t expect tourism
     to substantially bounce back until 2021
https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/napa-valley-shouldn-t-expect-tourism-to-substantially-bounce-back-until-2021/article_1e85f1bc-d3be-5f27-b7fe-966987480041.html

Boxed Wine Sales Surge Around The World And Will Keep Going
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2020/05/23/boxed-wine-sales-surge-around-the-world-and-will-keep-going/#83b942969769

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

     1539 - Hernando DeSoto sailed from Cuba to Florida with 13 pigs to help sustain his 700 men on his gold-hunting expedition.  He trades with Indians, bringing pigs to America. 
    1664 – The first Baptist Church was organized, in Boston.
    1732 - Protecting the environment and particularly the fishing industry is not new. New York City enacted a law for “preserving fish in fresh water ponds...Fishing by hoop-net, draw-net, purse-net, catching-net, cod-net, bley-net or with any other engine machine, arts, or ways and means whatsoever, other by an by angling with angle-rod, hoot, and line, was subject to a fine of 20 shillings.”
    1754 - The first bloodshed in the French and Indian War occurred on an isolated mountainside a few miles east of Uniontown, PA. Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, at the head of several companies of Virginia militia, reached the Monongahela River and overtook a French reconnoitering party from Fort Duquesne (the site of present-day Pittsburgh). In a surprise attack, the Virginians killed 10 French soldiers from Fort Duquesne, including the French commander, Coulon de Jumonville, and took 21 prisoners. Only one of Washington's men was killed. The French and Indian War was the last and most important of a series of colonial conflicts between the British and the American colonists on one side, and the French and their broad network of Native American allies on the other. From this base, Washington ambushed an advance detachment of about 30 French, striking the first blow of the French and Indian War. For the victory, Washington was appointed a full colonel and reinforced with several hundred Virginia and North Carolina troops. On July 3, the French descended on Fort Necessity with their full force, and after an all-day fight, Washington surrendered to their superior numbers. The disarmed colonials were allowed to march back to Virginia, and Washington was hailed as a hero despite his surrender of the fort. The story of the campaign was written up in a London gazette, and Washington was quoted as saying, "I have heard the bullets whistle; and believe me, there is something charming in the sound." Reading this, King George II remarked, "He would not say so if he had been used to hear many." In October, 1754, Washington resigned his commission in protest of the British underpayment of colonial offices and policy of making them subordinate to all British officers, regardless of rank. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763, France lost all claims to the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi and gave up Louisiana, including New Orleans, to Spain. Fifteen years later, French bitterness over the loss of their North American empire contributed to their intervention in the American Revolution on the side of the Patriots, despite the fact that the Patriots were led by one of France's old enemies, George Washington.    .
    1807 - Birthday of Louis Agassiz (1807-73) at Motier, Switzerland. Professor of zoology and geology at Harvard, he was a major influence in spawning American interest in natural history and helped to establish the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. “The eye of the trilobite,” Aggassiz wrote in 1870, “tells us that the sun shone on the old beach where he lived; for there is nothing in nature without a purpose and when so complicated an organ was made to receive the light, there must have been light to enter it.”
    1814 - Birthday of Daniel Reaves Goodloe (1814-1902) in Louisburg, NC. Emancipist who wrote “A Crusading Abolitionist in Reconstruction North Carolina”.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/goodloe/title.html
http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/goodloe/menu.html
http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/g/Goodloe,Daniel_R.html
    1818 - Former president Thomas Jefferson set forth in a letter to a Jewish journalist his opinion of religious intolerance: “Your sect by its sufferings has furnished a remarkable proof of the universal point of religious insolence, inherent in every sect, disclaimed by all while feeble and practiced by all when in power. Our laws have applied the only antidote to this vice, protecting our religions, as they do our civil rights, by putting all on equal footing. But more remains to be done.”
    1818 – Confederate General P.T. Beauregard (1818-93) was born in St. Bernard parish, LA.   A graduate of West Point, Beauregard served with distinction as an engineer in the Mexican-American War.  Following a brief appointment as superintendent at West Point in 1861, after the South seceded, he resigned from the US Army and became the first Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.  He commanded the defenses of Charleston at the start of the Civil War at Ft. Sumter on April 12, 1861. Three months later he won the First Battle of Bull Run.  It was largely on his advice that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was convinced to bring the Civil War to a close.      
    1830 - The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson. It called for resettlement of all Indians east of the Mississippi River to lands west of it. The sum of $500,000 was appropriated by Congress to compensate Indians and pay the cost of resettlement.
    1831 - Birthday of Eliza Ann Gardner (d. 1922), New York City.  Underground railroad conductor, known as the “Julia Ward Howe of the Negro race.” 
http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/digs-b/wwm97253/@Generic__BookTextView/2438
    1851 - The Ohio Woman's Rights Convention met in Akron, an historic meeting of women calling for equal rights.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may28.html
    1855 - Abby Leach’s (1855-1918) birthday.  She was one of the first females to attend Harvard.  She was a teacher whose profound knowledge of Greek impressed Harvard professors enough to open their doors a crack in 1879 for women through what they called the Harvard Annex. It would become Radcliffe College.
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/macurdyperformance.html
http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/life.html
http://www.radcliffe.edu/quarterly/199902/rad_har-5.html
    1858 - Lizzie Black Kander’s (1858-1940) birthday in Milwaukee, WI.  U.S. philanthropist. Thousands of immigrants and poor in the Milwaukee area received help because of this remarkable woman. Starting with organizations that distributed food and clothing to needy immigrants, she helped form and headed the city's first settlement house (1900-1918). As a 1901 fund-raiser, she supervised the printing of a cookbook. She expanded it and used the profits for charity. Still in print many years after Lizzie's death in 1940, “The Settlement Cook Book, Treasured Recipes of Seven Decades”, sold more than a million copies in 23 editions.
http://search.eb.com/women/articles/Kander_Lizzie_Black.html
http://www.jsonline.com/Entree/cooking/apr01/settle18041601.asp
http://www.uwm.edu/Library/arch/jews/image7.htm
    1863 - The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the most famous African-American regiment of the war, leaves Boston for combat in the South. For the first two years of the war, President Abraham Lincoln resisted the use of black troops despite the pleas of men such as Frederick Douglass, who argued that no one had more to fight for than African-Americans. Lincoln finally endorsed, albeit timidly, the introduction of blacks for service in the military in the Emancipation Proclamation. On May 22, 1863, the War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops to recruit and assemble black regiments. Many blacks, often freed or escaped slaves, joined the military and found themselves usually under white leadership. Ninety percent of all officers in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) were white. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the idealistic scion of an abolitionist family, headed the 54th. Shaw was a veteran of the 2nd Massachusetts infantry and saw action in the 1862 Shenandoah Valley and Antietam campaigns. After being selected by Massachusetts Governor John Andrew to organize and lead the 54th, Shaw carefully selected the most physically fit soldiers and white officers with established antislavery views. The regiment included two of Frederick Douglass's sons and the grandson of Sojourner Truth.
On May 28, 1863, the new regiment marched onto a steamer and set sail for Port Royal, South Carolina. The unit saw action right away, taking part in a raid into Georgia and withstanding a Confederate attack near Charleston. On July 16, 1863, Shaw led a bold but doomed attack against Fort Wagner in which he and 20 of his men were killed. The story of Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts was immortalized in the critically acclaimed 1990 movie “Glory”, starring Mathew Broderick, Denzell Washington, and Morgan Freeman.
http://www.54thmass.org/
    1875 - Birthday of American composer Fred Jewell (1875-1936) in Worthington, IL. Over the next two decades, he rose through the ranks of the circus composers and bandmasters, becoming the Music Director of the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1908. His circus career ended in 1917, and he moved to Oskaloosa, IA to assume the conductorship of the Iowa Brigade Band. There he started his own publishing company, which moved with him back to Worthington in 1923. He served as the high school band director, conductor of the Murat Temple Shrine Band and the Sahara Grotto Band in Indianapolis, and he continued to compose music for bands. His most famous marches are “E Pluribus Unum” (1917), “Quality-plus” (1913), “Supreme Triumph” (1920) and “The Old Circus Band” (1923).
    1877 - A "terrific" two day long sandstorm blasted Yuma, AZ. (28th-29th)
    1879 - Illinois prohibited employment of women in coalmines in their state.  This was the first law enacted in the United States to protect women in employment.
    1880 - Savoy, Texas was hit by an F4 tornado. 14 people were killed and 60 were injured. It leveled the entire business and northeast residential sections. The tornado was described as "a funnel blazing with balls of fire".
    1887 - Birthday of James Francis “Jim” Thorpe (1888-1953) at Prague, OK. Olympic gold medal track athlete, baseball player and football player, the Greatest Athlete of the first half of the 20th Century.  A Native American of the Sac and Fox Nation, he won the pentathlon and the decathlon of the 1912 Olympic Games, but later lost his medals when Olympic officials declared a stint as a minor league baseball player besmirched his amateur Thorpe’s medals were returned to his family many years after his death when the earlier decision was reversed.
He later played professional baseball and football. From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first President of the American professional Football Association which would become the National Football League in 1922.  
http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/history/ThorpeAthleteOfTheCentury.htm
http://www.alphacdc.com/necona/athlete_of_the_century.html
(lower half of: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may28.html )
    1892 - The Sierra Club was founded by famed naturalist John Muir. The Sierra Club promotes conservation of the natural environment by influencing public policy. It has been especially important in the founding of and protection of our national parks. www.sierraclub.org
    1898 - Birthday of great bandleader Andy Kirk (1898-1992) in Newport, KY.
http://www.redhotjazz.com/cloudsofjoy.html
    1900 - Birthday of trumpet player Tommy Ladnier (1900-39) in Mandeville, LA. 
http://www.redhotjazz.com/Ladnier.html
http://atj.8k.com/noartist/atjladnier.html
    1900 – A fire in the grandstand nearly destroyed the Cincinnati Redlegs’ ballpark.
    1908 – “Bond, James Bond.”  Author Ian Fleming (1908-1964) was born in Mayfair, London.  Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to a merchant bank and his father was a Member of Parliament from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.  While working for Britain's Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War, Fleming was involved in planning Operation Goldeneye and in the planning and oversight of two intelligence units, 30 Assault Unit and T-Force. His wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels.  Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, “Casino Royale,” in 1952. It was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two short-story collections followed between 1953 and 1966.   The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Fleming also wrote the children's story “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang” and two works of non-fiction. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945."
    1910 - Birthday of singer/pianist/song writer Aaron Thibodaux “T-Bone” Walker (1910-75), Linden, TX. 
http://www.rockhall.com/hof/inductee.asp?id=206
http://bluesnet.hub.org/artists/tbone.html
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/late0202.htm
    1917 - General John Joseph Pershing lead members of the American Expeditionary Force to fight in Europe, America’s first entrant into this war. The group included 40 regular army officers, 17 reserve officers, 2 Marine Corps officers, 67 enlisted men, 36 field clerks, 20 civilians, 3 interpreters, and 3 news correspondents. They left New York City on the “Baltic” and arrived in Liverpool England, on June 8, and reached Paris on June 13. The United States had been in a state of war with Germany since April 6, 1917, when it became the 13th national to declare war against the Central Powers.1922 - Otto Krueger conducted the Detroit News Orchestra, the first known radio orchestra, which was heard on WWJ Radio in Detroit, MI. The "Detroit News" owned the radio station at the time. 
    1928 - Walter P. Chrysler merged his Chrysler Corporation with Dodge Brothers, Inc. The Dodge Motor Car Company had been purchased several years earlier, from the widows of the two founders, by Clarence Dillon's banking firm for $148 million. The merger of Chrysler and Dodge, the largest automobile industry merger in history at the time, placed the newly consolidated firm third in production and sales, just behind General Motors and Ford Motor Company. Their vehicles have always been popular with law enforcement, the Blues Brothers, and my son drives a Dodge truck, which he swears is the best made in the industry.
    1929 - Warner Brothers debuted the first all-color talking picture. The film debuted at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City. Ethel Waters, Joe E. Brown, Betty Compson and Arthur Lake starred in "On with the Show," based on a story by Humphrey Pearson.
    1931 - Birthday of guitarist Sonny Burgess (d. 2017), Newport, AR.
http://www.deltaboogie.com/deltamusicians/burgess.htm
    1931 - WOR radio in New York City premiered "The Witch’s Tale." The program was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System (of which WOR was the flagship station) where it aired until 1938. My late father, Lawrence Menkin, started out as a radio writer, and wrote many of these and soap operas. In the late 1940’s, he became general manager of WOR-TV, producing the first early television drama’s, such as “Harlem Detective,” “Hands of Murder,” and the first “Captain Video,” all shows he created, wrote, produced and directed.
    1934 - The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario to Oliva and Elzire Dionne. They were the first quintuplets to survive infancy. This increase in Canada’s population became known as Marie, Cecile, Yvonne, Emilie and Annette. All five survived into adulthood, Cecile, Annette, Yvonne, Emilie and Marie. Their father, Elzire, signed to have them exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair only hours after they were born without permission from their mother. The Ontario provincial government intervened on behest of the doctor who delivered them. The government took custody of the children in what has been described more as a political move than a humanitarian one, and yet, at the time, it was a popular decision because of the family's poverty and the father's willingness to exploit the children in unsafe ways. The doctor became a wealthy man acting as their caretaker as he, as the government's representative, housed them in a modern home (across the road from the Dionne home) and showed them to the public from the porch. He and the government used their names and celebrity status in various ways to make millions. Hardly anyone around these children acted in their interest.  It took until 1997 for the surviving sisters to win monetary awards from the Canadian government for its exploitation of them. Their mother was not allowed any more intimacy with them than a tourist and she had no legal rights to claim them under the church dominated laws of the time in that area.  Emilie died in 1954, Marie in 1970, Yvonne in 2001.
http://www.city.north-bay.on.ca/quints/digitize/dionne.htm
    1935 - John Steinbeck’s “Tortilla Flat” is published. The novel's endearing comic tone captured the public's imagination, and the novel became a financial success. Steinbeck's next works, ”In Dubious Battle” and “Of Mice and Men,” were both successful, and in 1938, his masterpiece “The Grapes of Wrath” was published. The novel, about the struggles of an Oklahoma family who lose their farm and become fruit pickers in California, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1939. Steinbeck's work after World War II, including “Cannery Row” and “The Pearl,” became more sentimental. He also wrote several successful films, including “Forgotten Village” (1941) and “Viva Zapata!” (1952). He became interested in marine biology and published a nonfiction book, “The Sea of Cortez,” in 1941. His travel memoir, Travels with Charlie, describes his trek across the U.S. in a camper. Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize in 1962 and died in New York in 1968.
    1938 - Benny Goodman records “Big John Special.” Two points if you know who “Big John” was.  Other sites about the “King of Swing,” who also was a fine symphonic clarinetist.
http://www.nw-cybermall.com/JazzWorld/goodman.htm
    1938 - Birthday of former coach and basketball Hall of Fame guard Jerry Alan West, Cheylan, WV.  His silhouette is incorporated into the NBA logo. West’s NBA career was highly successful. He was voted 12 times into the All-NBA First and Second Teams, was elected into the NBA All-Star Team 14 times, and was chosen as the All-Star MVP in 1972, the same year that he won the only title of his career. West holds the NBA record for the highest points per game average in a playoff series with 46.3. He was also a member of the first five NBA All-Defensive Teams (one second, followed by four firsts), which were introduced when he was 32 years old. Having played in nine NBA Finals, he is also the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP despite being on the losing team (1969). West was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980 and voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. After his playing career, West was head coach of the Lakers for three years, leading Los Angeles into the playoffs each year and earning a Western Conference Finals berth once. Working as a player-scout for three years, West was named GM of the Lakers prior to the 1982-83. Under his reign, Los Angeles won six championship rings. In 2002, West became general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies and helped the franchise win their first-ever playoff berths. For his contributions, West won the NBA Executive of the Year twice
    1939 - Helen Hadassah Levinthal (1910-89) became the first Jewish woman to receive a degree from a Jewish college of theology. She received a Master of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Institute of Religion.
    1941 - Frank Sinatra joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra in recording "This Love of Mine" for Victor Records. 
    1942 - The rest of the Japanese forces directed at Midway set out. Admiral Yamamato, commanding the operation overall, believes that, if the plan to invade the island succeeds, the American fleet can be forced into a decisive engagement and that their defeat will force a truce before American production can swamp the Japanese war effort.
    1944 - Birthday of Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, born Brooklyn, NY. 
    1944 - Gladys Knight, singer, born Atlanta, GA. The first hit was in 1961 with "Every Beat of My Heart." Her group continued to record hits throughout the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. Among their best-known songs are "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (1967), "Midnight Train to Georgia" (1973), and "Love Overboard" (1987).
    1944 - DAVILA, RUDOLPH B., Medal of Honor
Staff Sergeant Rudolph B. Davila distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action, on 28 May 1944, near Artena, Italy. During the offensive which broke through the German mountain strongholds surrounding the Anzio beachhead, Staff Sergeant Davila risked death to provide heavy weapons support for a beleaguered rifle company. Caught on an exposed hillside by heavy, grazing fire from a well-entrenched German force, his machine gunners were reluctant to risk putting their guns into action. Crawling fifty yards to the nearest machine gun, Staff Sergeant Davila set it up alone and opened fire on the enemy. In order to observe the effect of his fire, Sergeant Davila fired from the kneeling position, ignoring the enemy fire that struck the tripod and passed between his legs. Ordering a gunner to take over, he crawled forward to a vantage point and directed the firefight with hand and arm signals until both hostile machine guns were silenced. Bringing his three remaining machine guns into action, he drove the enemy to a reserve position two hundred yards to the rear. When he received a painful wound in the leg, he dashed to a burned tank and, despite the crash of bullets on the hull, engaged a second enemy force from the tank’s turret. Dismounting, he advanced 130 yards in short rushes, crawled 20 yards and charged into an enemy-held house to eliminate the defending force of five with a hand grenade and rifle fire. Climbing to the attic, he straddled a large shell hole in the wall and opened fire on the enemy. Although the walls of the house were crumbling, he continued to fire until he had destroyed two more machine guns. His intrepid actions brought desperately needed heavy weapons support to a hard-pressed rifle company and silenced four machine gunners, which forced the enemy to abandon their prepared positions. Staff Sergeant Davila's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
    1944 - Singer Billy Vera is born William Patrick McCord, Riverside, CA.
    1945 - Birthday of guitarist/song writer John Fogerty, Berkeley, CA 
He was listed on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest Songwriters (at number 40) and the list of 100 Greatest Singers (at number 72).  His songs include “Proud Mayr, “ “Down on the Corner,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain” “Centerfield” “Bad Moon Rising,” "Green River, “Fortunate Son.”
    1946 – Yankee Stadium held its first night game…Senators 2, Yanks, 1.
    1948 - Top Hits
“Nature Boy” - Nat King Cole
“Now is the Hour” - Bing Crosby
“Baby Face” - The Art Mooney Orchestra
“Texarkana Baby” - Eddy Arnold
    1951 - After failing to get a hit in his first three Major League games, Willie Mays of the New York Giants broke his 0-for-12 skein by hitting a home run off Warren Spahn of the Boston Braves.
    1951 - U.N. Forces drove the communists back across the 38th parallel on most of the Korean battlefields.
    1951 - Eighth Army took Hwachon and Inje. 
    1952 - *KELLY, JOHN D., Medal of Honor 
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Korea, 28 May 1952. Entered service at: Homestead, Pa. Born: 8 July 1928, Youngstown, Ohio. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a radio operator of Company C, in action against enemy aggressor forces. With his platoon pinned down by a numerically superior enemy force employing intense mortar, artillery, small-arms and grenade fire, Pfc. Kelly requested permission to leave his radio in the care of another man and to participate in an assault on enemy key positions. Fearlessly charging forward in the face of a murderous hail of machine gun fire and hand grenades, he initiated a daring attack against a hostile strongpoint and personally neutralized the position, killing 2 of the enemy. Unyielding in the fact of heavy odds, he continued forward and single-handedly assaulted a machine gun bunker. Although painfully wounded, he bravely charged the bunker and destroyed it, killing 3 of the enemy. Courageously continuing his 1-man assault, he again stormed forward in a valiant attempt to wipe out a third bunker and boldly delivered pointblank fire into the aperture of the hostile emplacement. Mortally wounded by enemy fire while carrying out this heroic action, Pfc. Kelly, by his great personal valor and aggressive fighting spirit, inspired his comrades to sweep on, overrun and secure the objective. His extraordinary heroism in the face of almost certain death reflects the highest credit upon himself and enhances the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
    1952 - CHAMPAGNE, DAVID B., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, Company A 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date. Korea, 28 May 1952. Entered service at: Wakefield R.I. Born: 11 November 1932, Waterville, Md. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a fire team leader of Company A, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Advancing with his platoon in the initial assault of the company against a strongly fortified and heavily defended hill position, Cpl. Champagne skillfully led his fire team through a veritable hail of intense enemy machine gun, small-arms, and grenade fire, overrunning trenches and a series of almost impregnable bunker positions before reaching the crest of the hill and placing his men in defensive positions. Suffering a painful leg wound while assisting in repelling the ensuing hostile counterattack, which was launched under cover of a murderous hail of mortar and artillery fire, he steadfastly refused evacuation and fearlessly continued to control his fire team When the enemy counterattack increased in intensity, and a hostile grenade landed in the midst of the fire team, Cpl. Champagne unhesitatingly seized the deadly missile and hurled it in the direction of the approaching enemy. As the grenade left his hand, it exploded blowing off his hand and throwing him out of the trench. Mortally wounded by enemy mortar fire while in this exposed position, Cpl. Champagne, by his valiant leadership, fortitude, and gallant spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death, undoubtedly saved the lives of several of his fellow marines. His heroic actions served to inspire all who observed him and reflect the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. 
    1953 - The first 3-D (three-dimensional) cartoon world premiere at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, California and downtown Paramount Theatre, LA. The production, a Walt Disney creation/RKO picture, was titled, "Melody." 
    1955 - Birthday of Ronald Lawrence “Ron” Wilson, hockey coach, born, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
    1955 - "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" is the most popular song in the United States. Billboard refers to the tune as "disc entity" and reports if the sales of the other versions were all added up, including the original done by Fess Parker, more than 18-million copies have been bought in six months.
    1956 - Top Hits
“Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One” - Elvis Presley
“The Wayward Wind” - Gogi Grant
“The Happy Whistler” - Don Robertson
“Blue Suede Shoes” - Carl Perkins
    1956 – Dale Long of the Pittsburgh Pirates set a Major League record when he hit a HR in his eighth consecutive game.
    1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to sunny Southern California and said that the New York Giants baseball team could move with the Horace Stoneham family to Northern California. The teams went on to establish themselves in Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively. 
    1957 - The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) was established. This is the organization that brings us the Grammy Awards for all forms of musical entertainment each year.
    1957 – One of the greatest World Series HRs in LA Dodgers history was hit by Kirk Gibson, born in Pontiac, MI.  In the opening game of the 1988 World Series against the heavily-favored Oakland A’s of Tony LaRussa, Mark McGwire, Dave Stewart and Jose Canseco, Gibson was sent up in the bottom of the 9th to pinch hit against A’s closer Dennis Eckersley, at the time, the premier closer in the Majors.  Having injured both legs during the NLCS, Gibson was not expected to play at all. With an awkward, almost casual swing, Gibson used pure upper-body strength to smack a 3–2 backdoor slider over the right-field fence. He hobbled around the bases and pumped his fist as his jubilant teammates stormed the field. The Dodgers won the game, 5–4, and would go on to win the World Series, four games to one.
    1958 – In Cuba, Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
    1959 - Abel and Baker were two one pound monkeys, one a rhesus, the other a spider monkey that survived a 15-minute flight trip into space in separate containers in the nose cone of Jupiter rocket launched at Cape Canaveral, FL. The cone was shot 300 miles into space and was recovered about 90 minutes later off the island of Antiqua, about 1,500 miles away, by Navy frogmen from the tug Kiowa. A previous attempt made on December 13, 1958, has been unsuccessful.
    1960 - Elvis Presley visits Vegas, and his entourage is for the first time dubbed the "Memphis Mafia" in the local media, due to their penchant for wearing long coats and dark glasses.
     1963 - Medgar Evers gets agreement of negotiations in the All-American city of Jackson, Mississippi — which is then withdrawn.  Four students and a professor were harassed during a sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter. A few days earlier, the garage of his house was bombed and on June 12, a few hours after President John F. Kennedy had made an extraordinary broadcast to the nation on the subject of civil rights, Medgar Evers was shot and killed in an ambush in front of his home. Byron de La Beckwith, a white segregationist, was charged with the murder. He was set free in 1964 after two trials resulted in hung juries but was convicted in a third trial held in 1994.
    1964 - Top Hits
“My Guy” - Mary Wells
“Love Me Do” - The Beatles
“Chapel of Love” - The Dixie Cups
“My Heart Skips a Beat” - Buck Owens
    1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization was formed.
    1966 - Percy Sledge hit number one with his first -- and what turned out to be his biggest -- hit. "When a Man Loves a Woman" would stay at the top of the pop music charts for two weeks. It was the singer’s only hit to make the top ten and was a million seller. 
    1966 - Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" is released. It stays on the chart for four weeks and reaching as high as #88. The record's producer Phil Spector considers the song the high point of his legendary production career and is so embittered by it not doing well in America that he would go into seclusion for two years.
    1966 - The Temptations' "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" is released and enters the Hot 100, where it will stay for thirteen weeks, peaking at #13. It will later be covered by the Rolling Stones on their album "It's Only Rock n' Roll,” and will be a hit for them as well.
    1966 - Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass set an American record when they had four albums in the US Top Ten. The four were "What Now My Love," "South of the Border," "Going Places" and "Whipped Cream and Other Delights." After falling off the charts a couple of years later, Alpert would return with a solo hit called "Rise" in 1979 and again in 1987 with "Diamonds." 
    1967 - The Association makes their television debut, performing "Along Comes Mary" on CBS-TV's “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”.
    1968 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit:  “Mrs. Robinson,” Simon & Garfunkel.
    1968 - The American League announced that it would split into two divisions for the 1969 season. Teams in the AL East included the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators. The AL West was comprised of the California Angels, the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Royals, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Pilots.  The San Diego Padres were granted a National League franchise.
    1969 - A People's Park Bail Ball benefit was held at Winterland in San Francisco. Aum, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Elvin Bishop Group, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana all played at Winterland. 
    1972 - Top Hits
“Oh Girl” - Chi-Lites
“I’ll Take You There” - The Staple Singers
“Look What You Done for Me” - Al Green
“(Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date” - Conway Twitty
    1975 - The Doobie Brothers went gold with the album, "Stampede." The group, formed right here in San Jose, CA, recorded 16 charted hits. Two made it to number one, becoming million-selling, gold record winners: "Black Water" [March, 1975] and "What a Fool Believes" [April, 1979]. 
    1977 - In Southgate, KY, the Beverly Hills Supper Club was engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
    1978 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit:  “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late,'' Johnny Mathis/Deniece Williams.
        1980 - Top Hits
“Call Me” - Blondie
“Funkytown” - Lipps, Inc.
“Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer” - Kenny Rogers with Kim Carnes
“Starting Over Again” - Dolly Parton
    1982 - The legendary train, "Orient Express," made popular through Agatha Christie’s thrilling mystery novel, "Murder on the Orient Express," was reborn. The 26-hour train trip resumed across the European continent after a long respite. While I have never had the pleasure, I am told by people who rode it, it was a great trip. I know several chefs on the West Coast who said they learned to cook on this train, where food and wine was “the best.”
    1984 - President Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. 
    1985 - Gay Mullins, a retiree from Seattle, WA, founded Old Cola Drinkers of America. This was an effort to bring back the original Coca-Cola, instead of the New Coke that the Atlanta-based company had foisted on the American cola-drinking market. By July of 1985, with arms firmly twisted behind their backs, Coca-Cola Company executives relented, kept the new formula on the market, but returned with: Classic Coke. 
    1985 - "Vanity Fair" magazine, with a picture of President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy kissing on the cover, went on sale. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, their “love affair” was genuine, as expressed
in this book, “I Love You, Ronnie.”
http://www.amazon.com/Love-You-Ronnie-Letters-Ronald/dp/0375505547/190-4600090-8446337?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&ref_=pm_dp_ln_b_6&s=books
    1986 - Viewers of Dick Clark's "America Picks the #1 Songs" chose Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock," "Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" as the greatest hits of the rock era.
    1987 - Thunderstorms produced torrential rains in Oklahoma and Northern Texas. Lake Altus, Oklahoma was deluged with 9 inches of rain. Up to 8 inches of rain drenched Northern Texas and baseball size hail was reported north of Seminole and at Knickerbocker. 10-13 inches of rain inundated central Oklahoma over the last 5 days of the month resulting in an estimated 65 million dollars damage. Flooding forced several thousand people to evacuate their homes, many by boat or by helicopter.
    1988 - Top Hits
“One More Try” - George Michael
“Shattered Dreams” - Johnny Hates Jazz
“Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)” - Samantha Fox
“Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” - Kathy Mattea
    1989 - Unseasonably hot weather continued in Florida. Five cities reported record high temperatures for the date. The record high of 98 degrees at Lakeland, FL, was their fifth in a row. Thunderstorms produced severe weather in Florida late in the day, with golf ball size hail reported at Kissimmee.
    1990 - Two to five inches of rain over southeastern Ohio on the 28th and 29th capped an exceptionally wet month of May, and triggered widespread flooding. Flooding which resulted claimed three lives, and caused millions of dollars damage. Numerous roads in southeast Ohio were flooded and impassable, and many other roads were blocked by landslides.
    1996 - In a 12-8 win at the Kingdome, Orioles' third baseman Cal Ripken has his first career three-homer game and collects a career-high eight RBIs.
    1996 - President Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, James and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, were convicted of fraud. Tucker was charged with creating a sham bankruptcy to avoid paying taxes on profits from a sold cable TV company in which he was a partner. Tucker resigned after the verdict. He briefly reversed his decision, but finally stepped down in July. In 1998, Tucker pleaded guilty to a felony charge of fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors of independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
    1998 - Elton John and Bernie Taupin's global hit "Candle in the Wind '97" is a double winner at the Ivor Novello Awards held at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. The song, commemorating the late Princess Diana, wins best-selling U.K. single and international hit of the year. Accepting the award, John calls his victory "bittersweet," noting, "I wish this record had never had to be made."
    1998 - First Hawaiian Inc. and BancWest Corp. joined forces to create a $14 billion banking major banking entity based in the western United States. The merger, which cost around $1 billion, gave First Hawaiian's stockholders a small majority stake in the new institution.
    2000 - The Angels, for the first time in franchise history, hit four home runs in one inning. Anaheim goes yard four times in the fifth inning with Darin Erstad, Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson supplying the fireworks in the 11-4 victory.
    2002 - The last steel girder was removed from the World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially ended with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan.
    2003 - When Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa and Gary Sheffield all go deep off Reds' Jeff Austin in the bottom of the first inning, the Braves become only the second team in big league history to begin a game with three consecutive home runs. 
    2005 - In the eighth inning of the Red Sox's 17-1 rout over the Yankees in New York, the largest margin of victory the team has ever enjoyed against their rivals, the stadium scoreboard goes blank for a few moments when the operator cannot keep up with the Boston barrage. The BoSox’s 27 hits, one shy of a Bronx Bomber record for hits allowed, are the most collected by the club since tying the team record of 28 in June of 2003, ironically in a game also started by Carl Pavano as the opposing pitcher, but in a Marlin uniform.
    2006 - At AT&T Park, Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth the all-time home run list taking sole possession of second place as he hits the 715th homer of his 21-year big league career. The historic homer, which comes off a 90-mph fastball thrown by Byung-Hyun Kim of the Rockies, makes the Giants outfielder the most prolific left-handed slugger in baseball history.
    2014 - Music curator and headphone maker Beats Electronics was acquired by Apple, Inc. who will pay $3 billion for the music company, started by music producer Jimmy Iovine and rap artist Dr. Dre.