The World Needs More Mayberry

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State Filing Offices to be Closed Friday for Juneteenth Holiday
Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Virginia

CLAS, the Worldwide Information Services, announces, “Many state Division of Corporations will be closed on Friday, June 18, 2021 in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. Turnaround times and available services will be affected.”

Please see below for details:
 
Corporate

• You will only be able obtain the file date of June 18, 2021 if arranged in advance.
• June 18, 2021 can be used as a future effective date.
• Filing evidence will not be returned on June 18, 2021.

UCC

• UCC filings can obtain a June 18, 2021 file date only if submitted via XML.
• Filing evidence will not be returned on June 18, 2021
• XML and WEB filing will be available as usual.

State filing offices in New Jersey, New York and Virginia will also be closed on Friday.

“We're here to help! Please feel free to contact CLAS for help in planning your projects to avoid potential service delays. 800.952.5696.”
| connect@clasinfo.com

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Help Wanted Ads

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The List  - May, 2021
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Will Disclosing Rates Kill the MCA Business
  and Equipment Financing? Reaction from
    Bud Callahan, CLFP, BPB
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_28.htm#will

Work from Home Expectations
    Survey by Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_28.htm#work

Ken Lubin Introduces Video on
    "Why You Will Fail to Have a Great Career"
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_28.htm#why

ELFA Reports April Saw Almost 5% Increase
    from Previous High Month of March, 2021
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_26.htm#elfa

Stories from the Past at Leasing News, May 24, 2012
    CLP Foundation Announces New Executive Director
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/archives_may2021.htm

Truth in Financing Comes to Another State
   Joining California, New York maybe New Jersey & Connecticut
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_24.htm#truth

The Top Eight Leasing/Finance Company Websites
    in North America
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_24.htm#sites

Top Alexa Ratings in Leasing and Equipment Finance
    USA Traffic Ranks – May 20, 2021
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_21.htm#alexa

Motor Vehicle Dealers License May Be Required
  for Lessors in New York
     By Sloan Schickler, Esq. and Edward P. Kaye, Esq.
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_21.htm#motor

Umpqua Bank re: Financial Pacific
    By Christopher Menkin, Editor/Publisher, Leasing News
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/archives_may2021.htm

More on Financial Pacific and FDIC Fine
    Against Umpqua Bank and Restitution Penalty
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_17.htm#finpac

AACFB Hosts Successful Virtual Expo
    175 Attendees and 33 Exhibitors
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_14.htm#aacfb

CLFP Foundation Surpasses 1,000 Members
    57 Pass 8-Hour Exam -  Photos
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_14.htm#clfp

John Boettigheimer Comments on CV Holdings
    and Centra Story in Monday's Leasing News
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_12.htm#john

Chesswood Group First Quarter Up 5% from 4Q 1010
    Declares 59% Dividend Increase
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_10.htm#chesswood

DLL Closes Seventh U.S. Securitization Transaction
    at $1.0 Billion
https://leasingnews.org/archives/May2021/05_07.htm#dll

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InSource Learning Academy Joins
Financial and Sales Training Group

InSource Learning Academy Sherman Oaks, CA Brian Link Brian@InSourceSales.com 818-783-7462 www.InSourceSales.com Training.InSourceSales.com

2001 20

United States

Sales is the highest paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work. But no matter how hard you work, you need the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to succeed. We specialize in developing world class sales teams. Subjects include knowing how to find deals, knowing how to deal with competition, and knowing how to Coach and Manage a team of Sales Professionals.

Full List:
https://leasingnews.org/Training/Financial_sales_trainer.htm

Cannabis Boom Revives Storefronts, Factories;
Brings Jobs to Michigan

Before the state of Michigan legalized marijuana, various areas in the Southwest were filled with empty storefronts and warehouses. However, the plant’s legalization brought marijuana-industry investors into the state who were looking for locations to process and grow plants, as to establish dispensaries.

City leaders in southwest Michigan state that the marijuana industry has brought more than 10 years’ worth of redevelopment to the area, adding that even more projects are scheduled to begin in the next year or so. In the last two years alone, the sum investment in equipment and buildings in Buchanan and Niles has surpassed $50 million, with the cities noting that more than 250 new employment opportunities have been created in each city. Additionally, taxes collected by the state from cannabis businesses in the area have been allocated to different communities.

Thus far, there are nearly a dozen provisioning/dispensing centers in Edwardsburg, Buchanan and Niles, with plans to launch more, including micro-businesses. In addition to this, there are more than 10 growing operations in the Galien, Eau Claire, Benton Harbour, Buchanan and Niles Townships, with more planned.

Apart from the willingness of local officials to consider cannabis businesses, investors are also interested in the area because of the many available empty buildings that can be turned into facilities to cultivate, process and pack marijuana or establish dispensaries. Other investors have also been attracted to the abandoned storefronts in Buchanan and Niles, planning to turn them into adult-use and medical dispensaries, providing convenience for consumers from Indiana as well as other locations.

Officials are hopeful that the investments and employment opportunities will continue to increase in the near future as the marijuana market develops further in Buchanan, Niles and other areas. The development of the marijuana market throughout the state is also facilitating the entrance of new businesses such as Biggby Coffee and Culver’s, as foot traffic increases.

Earlier in March, the state’s Department of Treasury announced that it would be dispensing $10 million to more than a hundred counties and municipalities as part of the taxes gathered on recreational cannabis sold in the state. Department officials added that roughly $24 million would be divided evenly between the Michigan transportation fund and K-12 education.

Most of the buildings that have been occupied by marijuana retailers and cultivators might have otherwise been torn down. For instance, the Simplicity plant, which covers roughly 750,000 square feet and is currently being restored for use by marijuana processors and cultivators, was due to be torn down.

 
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Financing Cannabis Funding Sources
Many Work with Third Party Originators

Alliance Commercial Capital
Alternative Finance Network
Cannabis Equipment Leasing
International Financial Services (IFS)
NEC Financial Services
Number One Enterprise
Prime Commercial Lending
Slim Capital
Vertical Companies
XS Equipment Leasing Solutions

Full List:
https://leasingnews.org/Pages/cannabis_financing.html

 

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Summer Heat Brings a Market Cooldown
Is the housing market beginning to see a slowdown?

According to Redfin’s latest housing market update, home purchase applications have been tailing off since late March and are now 7% below their average levels in January and February 2020, despite low mortgage rates and easing access to credit.

The cooling market is also reflected in a four-week decline in pending sales and a drop in Redfin's demand index, which was down 12% from its late-March peak.

Redfin Lead Economist Taylor Marr, said, "Homebuyers may have found a better way to spend Memorial Day weekend than touring homes but most have not exited the market entirely.

 "Buyers have faced a tough market this year and fewer feel it is a good time to buy as the allure of low rates has waned, so some are choosing to wait it out for now. With demand stabilizing, the housing market should become more balanced, allowing homebuyers to have a less stressful and challenging time finding and competing for a home."

Short supply is catching up with the market as well, as Redfin reported active listings falling 37% from 2020, and have been relatively flat since late February. Speed too is playing a factor with many having just days to decide to make a purchase, as 56% of homes that went under contract had an accepted offer within the first two weeks on the market, well above the 43% rate during the same period a year ago. A record 53% of these homes sold above their list price, up from 25% a year earlier. Redfin found that the average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, increased to 102.1%—3.7 percentage points higher than a year earlier and an all-time high.

Last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey found that mortgage application volume was on the decline, dropping 3.1% from the previous week, with refis taking a slight hit, sliding from 61.3% of the share of mortgage activity to 60.4% of total applications.

Source:  Mreport.com

 

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When Novak Djokovic was down 6:7 2:6 in Sunday's French Open final, it looked like Stefanos Tsitsipas' youthful energy was just too much to bare for the 34-year-old Serb that afternoon. Having looked out-of-sorts and exhausted for large parts of the second set, Djokovic came to life in the third, however, proving why he is already known as one of the greatest escape artists the game has ever seen. The man who has beaten Roger Federer twice after being match point down in a Grand Slam final rallied to a 6:7 2:6 6:3 6:2 6:4 victory, clinching his second French Open title and his 19th triumph at one of the four majors.

As Nadal and Federer both stand at 20 Grand Slam titles, Djokovic is now within touching distance of clinching the record that all three men have been chasing for years. With Federer turning 40 this year and his last major title dating back to 2018, it seems increasingly unlikely that the Swiss maestro can add to his tally. Meanwhile Nadal's physical playing style is also taking its toll on the 35-year-old Spaniard, who has been struggling with injury throughout his career. At this point, Djokovic looks like the safest bet to come out on top in the Grand Slam record books, adding weight to his supporters' argument that he, not Federer, not Nadal, is the GOAT (the Greatest of All Time).

By Felix Richter, Statista

 

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

First Commonwealth Bank Announces
Entry into Equipment Finance Business
Hires CLFP Cindy Spurdle Award Winner to Run it

INDIANA, Pa.,  -- First Commonwealth Bank announced  that they will enter the equipment leasing and finance business with the addition of Robert “Rob” Boyer, CLFP, to its executive team as President of First Commonwealth Equipment Finance Group.

Reid Raykovich, CLFP, Exec. Dir. with Rob Boyer, CLFP
"2019 Cindy Spurdle Award Winner Recipient is Rob Boyer, CLFP"

Boyer brings a wealth of industry knowledge with 24 years in the equipment finance space as he starts, develops and leads the Bank’s entry into the small ticket equipment finance business.

(He was President of Susquehanna Commercial Finance, joining the firm 2007 as Executive Vice President, and promoted October, 1998, President. https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-boyer-clfp-60850b8/)

T. Michael Price, CEO of First Commonwealth, states that, “It is an honor to have someone with Rob’s experience on our team. As an icon in the industry, Rob brings vast experience in running an autonomous, multi-faceted equipment finance business seamlessly within a banking environment.”

In addition to Boyer’s robust knowledge of the business and vast network of industry contacts, he is currently a Board Director and Vice Chairman of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) and has previously chaired its Membership Committee and Small Ticket Business Council Steering Committee. He has also served as a Director for the Certified Leasing and Finance Professional Foundation.

“The ‘people and customer first’ culture of First Commonwealth, along with its scale and aggressive growth goals, are what attracted me to starting an entirely new business line for First Commonwealth,” Boyer said. “The executive team truly walk the talk from a culture perspective and were great to work with in developing the strategy into action.”

Price said the Bank’s entry into the equipment leasing and finance business is a strategic initiative that is consistent with First Commonwealth’s goal to be the best bank for business. They like the granularity it will add to their commercial portfolio and the financing opportunities it opens up in favorable geographies.

The company’s entry into the business follows the pattern of the bank’s successful de novo entry into the mortgage business in 2014 and its organic expansion of its SBA and indirect auto businesses, as well as its successful integration of five acquisitions in that time frame. The equipment finance business is expected to break even late in 2022, after which it is expected to provide a meaningful contribution to the company’s earnings and continue the track record of positive operating leverage.

The equipment leasing and financing division will be headquartered in suburban Philadelphia.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation
First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE: FCF), headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a financial services company with 119 community banking offices in western and central Pennsylvania and throughout Ohio, as well as business banking centers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates mortgage offices in Wexford, Pennsylvania, as well as Hudson, Lewis Center and Youngstown, Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. For more information about First Commonwealth or to open an account today, please visit www.fcbanking.com.

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

Male Puppy Labrador Retriever (mixed)
Littleton, Colored Adopt-a-Dog

Amadeus

Male
Age: 3 months, 1 week
Color: Primary Black
Secondary Color: White
Shots up to date
Neutered
Pet Had No Special Needs
Okay with kids
Okay with dogs
Okay with cats: no sure
Not Hypoallergenic
Housetrained: No

Adoption fee includes the following:
Spay/Neuter
Rabies Vaccination
Distemper / Parvo Vaccines (includes series of 3 for puppies)
Bordetella
Microchip with prepaid lifetime registration
Deworming
Adoption Fee: $585

2 Blondes All Breed Rescue
3121 Redhaven Way
Littleton, Colorado
(720) 470 -5579
adoptions@2babrescue.org

Hours of Operation
Tuesday- Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday 9am-1pm (Adoption Events)

Our office is closed each Sunday, Monday & on all major Holidays, Please allow for seventy-two (72) business hours for a response to any inquiry.

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Broker Fair 2021 is BACK – December 6 in NYC
Very Well-Attended in Person

Broker Fair returns to New York City in person on December 6, 2021 at Convene at Brookfield Place!

As previously announced, tickets that were purchased for Broker Fair 2020 have simply carried over to Broker Fair 2021. That means you might already be registered! You can confirm by emailing events@debanked.com.

Broker Fair is the largest annual conference for brokers in the commercial finance industry. Business loans, merchant cash advance, factoring, leasing, SBA, real estate, and more will be incorporated into the full-day lineup. Sponsorships are almost entirely sold out.

If you’ve been following along, New York City is already roaring back. Most capacity restrictions are scheduled to be lifted this week on May 19th.

We’ll see you there!

Buy Tickets Here!
https://brokerfair.org/register/

News Briefs---

‘Fastest production car you can buy’:
    Jay Leno impressed by Tesla’s Model S Plaid
https://nypost.com/2021/06/14/jay-leno-is-impressed-by-teslas-new-model-s-plaid/

Major US mall owner files for bankruptcy
    100 locations across the United States
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/14/business/washington-prime-group-mall-bankruptcy/index.html

deBanked Celebrates 4,000 Days Since Inception
    "originally as MerchantProcessingResource.com in 2010"
https://debanked.com/2021/06/debanked-celebrates-4000-days-since-inception/

Novavax COVID-19 vaccine more than 90%
    effective in U.S. trial
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/novavax-covid-19-vaccine-more-than-90-effective-us-trial-2021-06-14/

Amtrak is a top travel choice in the Northeast.
   With an ally in White House, it wants trains in the rest of America.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/06/15/amtrak-train-map-expansion-us/

Container rates rocket even higher
    — and there’s no end in sight
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/container-rates-rocket-even-higher-and-theres-no-end-in-sight/amp

The ultimate guide to quitting your job
    By Rachel Schnalzer, Los Angeles Times Exclusive
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-06-14/how-to-quit-your-job-during-covid
 

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You May Have Missed---

15th Amazon leadership principle
https://www.geekwire.com/2021/15th-amazon-leadership-principle-former-exec-floats-new-idea-tech-giants-next-era/

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Sports Briefs---

Warriors expected to add MVP
    Jokic’s former coach to Kerr’s staff
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/06/15/warriors-to-add-dejan-milojevic-nikola-jokics-former-coach-to-steve-kerrs-staff/

MLB threatens pitchers with 10-game bans for altering balls
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/sports/mlb-threatens-pitchers-with-10-game-bans-for-altering-balls/

Bill Belichick: Cam Newton's 'way ahead
      of where he was last year at this time'
https://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/16071/Bill-Belichick--Cam-Newton-s--way-ahead-of-where-he-was-last-year-at-this-time-

Patriots' Newton knows he has much to prove this season
https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Patriots-Newton-knows-he-has-much-to-prove-this-16250262.php

Houston Texans still trying to trade Deshaun Watson
https://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/16072/Houston-Texans-still-trying-to-trade-Deshaun-Watson

 

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California Nuts Briefs---

Disneyland welcomes out-of-state visitors
    as California fully reopens
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/disneyland-reopens-to-out-of-state-visitors/index.html

California’s tourism industry geared up to reopen
https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/industrynews/californias-tourism-industry-geared-up-to-reopen/

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“Gimme that Wine”

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

California North Coast vintners see visitors, restaurant sales return
https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/industrynews/california-north-coast-vintners-see-visitors-restaurant-sales-return/

2020 wasn’t a great year for Washington wine.
    Or was it?
https://www.tricitiesbusinessnews.com/2021/06/wa-wine-year/

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

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

This Day in History

     1738 - Birthday of Mary Katherine Goddard (d. 1816) in colonial Connecticut.  She was a Colonial printer and publisher, the first to publish the Declaration of Independence. Her widowed mother worked in her son's printing plant in Rhode Island as she did. When he moved away leaving it in debt, the women continued the business and published the Providence Gazette. They sold it and moved to Philadelphia to publish the Pennsylvania Chronicle. Selling this paper, she moved to Maryland as the editor and publisher of the Maryland Journal which she published right through the Revolutionary War.
http://www.rebelswithavision.com/MaryKatherineGoddard.com/
http://www.baltimoremd.com/monuments/goddard.html
    1745 – New England colonial troops under the command of William Pepperell captured the French Fortress of Louisburg, Nova Scotia.
    1755 - British captured Fort Beausejour and expelled the Acadians. The Acadians of Nova Scotia were uprooted by an English governor and forced to leave. Some 10,000 people moved to destinations like Maine and Louisiana, the latter becoming known as Cajuns. Some moved to Iles-de-la-Madeleine off Quebec. The Longfellow story "Evangeline" is based on this displacement.  This was the final act in the long fight between Britain and France for control of Acadia, and the opening act of the final struggle between the two great empires for North America.  Renamed in 1755 Fort Cumberland by the British, it was the site of the Battle of Fort Cumberland during the Revolutionary War.
    1775 - American Col. William Prescott led 1200 men from Cambridge to dig in at Bunker’s Hill but arrived at night and dug in at Breed’s Hill. A siege on Boston by Colonial militia generals John Stark and Israel Putnam prompted the British to attack.
    1777 – Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys routed the British in the Battle of Bennington (VT).
    1806 - A total eclipse of the sun was viewed from southern California to Massachusetts.
    1812 - The City Bank of New York (later Citibank) opened for business.
    1822 - Denmark Vessy led a slave rebellion in South Carolina.  According to reports, between 35 to 37 slaves were hung, and perhaps up to 50 exiled into slavery into other parts of the world. The revolt had the opposite effect, arming whites, restricting travel of Blacks, education, bringing fear to whites of further black revolt and further laws of “repression.”
http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/510
/Slave_revolutionary_Denmark_Vesey_wanted_freedom
http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/hamilton/menu.html
http://www.afrigeneas.com/states/sc/SC-biblio.htm
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/black_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=25
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/ssa.htm
    1829 – Geronimo (d. 1909) was born in Turkey Creek near the Gila River in what was then Mexico and is now Arizona.  A prominent chief of the Bedonkohe Apache who fought against Mexico and Arizona for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars, Geronimo was the name given to him during a battle with Mexican soldiers. Geronimo's Chiricahua name is often rendered in English as Goyathlay or Goyahkla.  After a Mexican attack on his tribe, where soldiers killed his mother, wife, and his three children in 1858, Geronimo joined a number of revenge attacks against the Mexicans.  In 1886, after a lengthy pursuit, Geronimo surrendered to Arizona faux-gubernatorial authorities as a POW. At an old age, he became a celebrity, appearing at fairs, but he was never allowed to return to the land of his birth.
    1858 - In a speech in Springfield, Illinois, Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
    1864 – Gen. Grant began the siege of Petersburg, VA, a key battle toward ending the Civil War.
    1873 – President Grant decreed the Wallowa Valley for Nez Perce Indians, their ancestral home. Chief Joseph asked the first white settlers to leave when they arrived in 1871.  The US government expelled the tribe and seized their property and livestock in 1877, despite Grant’s decree, when non-Indian farmers and ranchers wanted to settle the fertile Wallowa Valley. The tribe was barred from returning to their homeland by the government after repeated petitions. The tribal members were shipped in unheated box cars to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) to be placed in a prisoner of war camp never to see their home again.
    1882 - 17" hailstones weighing 1.75 lbs. fall in Dubuque, Iowa. Small still- living frogs are found in some of those hailstones.
    1884 – At Coney Island in Brooklyn, the first roller coaster in America opened, LaMarcus Adna Thompson’s “Switchback Railway.”
    1890 – Stan Laurel (d. 1965) was born in Lancashire, England.  As part of the hilarious comedy team of Laurel and Hardy during the early days of film, they began sharing the screen in “Slipping Wives,” “Duck Soup” (1927) and “With Love and Hisses.” The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Hal Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the “Laurel and Hardy” series later that year.  Their careers extended well into the 1940s.  At Laurel’s funeral, silent screen comedian Buster Keaton was overheard talking about Laurel's talent: "Chaplin wasn't the funniest, I wasn't the funniest, this man was the funniest."
    1892 - Birthday of Jennie Grossinger (d. 1972), Austrian-born American hotel executive and philanthropist. She managed a small family inn operating on a small chicken farm taking in summer boarders to one of the most famous resort hotels in the world: Grossinger's in the Catskills Mountains. At her death in 1964, Grossinger's resort consisted of 35 buildings on 1,200 acres and served 150,000 guests a year. Her children carry on the tradition. In the beginning, her mother was the cook for the guests, her father did the maintenance, and Jennie was both chambermaid and bookkeeper.
    1883 - The New York Giants hosted the first Ladies’ Day baseball game. Both escorted and unescorted ladies were admitted to the game free.
    1897 - The government signed a treaty of annexation with the Republic of Hawaii.
    1902 - Birthday of Barbara McClintock (d. 1992) in Hartford, CT.  Her groundbreaking work in genetics and the precursor of DNA was published in 1951 and had to wait 32 years to be honored with the Nobel Prize. She was 49 when she published and 81 when she was awarded the Nobel.
    1903 - Ford Motor Company was incorporated.
    1904 - James Joyce meets Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid at Finn's Hotel, Dublin, Ireland, and takes her for a walk. This is the day of Leopold Bloom's fictional odyssey through Dublin in “Ulysses.” This date is now known as Bloomsday.
    1909 - The first airplane sold commercially was the “Gold Bug,” delivered by Glenn Hammond Curtis to the New York Aeronautical Society at Hammondsport, NY, for $5,000. Flying instructions were given to two members.
    1909 – Jim Thorpe made his baseball pitching debut for the Rocky Mount Railroaders with a 4-2 win over the Raleigh Red Birds in the Eastern Carolina League. It is the professional play in this year that later caused him to lose his Olympic gold medals won in the 1912 Olympics, thus violating the amateur status rules. In 1983, thirty years after his death, his medals were restored by the IOC.
    1911 - A 1.7 lb. stony meteorite struck the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin, damaging a barn.
    1911 - The forerunner of IBM was incorporated in New York State as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co.
    1917 – Birthday of Katharine Meyer Graham (d. 2001) in NYC.  U.S. newspaper publisher who guided the Washington Post (and Newsweek magazine) to a place of prominence. Under her direction, they challenged such national newspapers as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and Time magazine. She hired a strong staff of reporters and editors. She personally gave the go ahead to Post stories that exposed the Nixon political abuses during Watergate that led to his resignation. She never, in the face of intense political pressure, failed to support her staff. In fact, Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell had chortled after a Post article on the corruption of the Nixon administration that “this time she’s got her tit in a wringer.” He was that confident of the administration’s power to crush her. He went to jail instead.  In 2013, the newspaper was purchased by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for $250 million in cash.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/july01/2001-07-17-graham-dead.htm
    1917 - Birthday of photographer Irving Penn (d. 2009) in Plainfield, NJ. 
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa393.htm
http://www.artic.edu/aic/books/subpenn.html
http://www.execpc.com/~torrey/notefoto.html#P
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/082122459X/026-9304654-2918861
    1917 - The temperature soared to 124 degrees at Mecca climaxing the most destructive heat wave of record in California history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecca,_California
    1920 - Birthday of John Howard Griffin (d. 1980) in Dallas.  American author and photographer, deeply concerned about racial problems in US. To better understand blacks in American South, Griffin blackened his skin by the use of chemicals and ultraviolet light, keeping a journal as he traveled through the South, resulting his best-known book, “Black Like Me.” Life Magazine syndicated the book, which was instrumental in the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s.
    1922 - Henry Berliner accomplished the first helicopter flight at College Park, MD.
    1924 - Tenor saxophonist Eli “Lucky” Thompson’s (d. 2005) birthday in Columbia, SC.  While John Coltrane usually receives the most credit for bringing the soprano saxophone out of obsolescence in the early 1960s, Thompson (along with Steve Lacy) embraced the instrument earlier than Coltrane
http://www.fact-index.com/l/lu/lucky_thompson.html
http://www.artistdirect.com/music/artist/bio/0,,501507,00.html?
artist=Lucky+Thompson
    1933 - Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act, known as the Banking Act of 1933, creating bank deposit insurance and the FDIC.  There was a sliding scale of protection, up to 50% over $50,000. On August 23, 1935, the law was changed to a limit of $5,000 for any one depositor “to provide for the sound, effective and uninterrupted operation of the banking system, and for other purposes.” Banks were regulated to obtain this insurance, which changed banking for both the business community and consumers, giving them more protection and regulating the banking industry.  It was the first time that currency was permitted to be allocated for the Federal Reserve System. It was passed in February 1932 in an effort to stop deflation and expanded the Fed’s ability to offer rediscounts on more types of assets such as government bonds and commercial paper. The Glass–Steagall Act of 1932 authorized Federal Reserve Banks to (1) lend to five or more FRS member banks on a group basis or to any individual member bank with capital stock of $5 million or less against any satisfactory collateral, not only “eligible paper,” and (2) issue FRB Notes (i.e., paper currency) backed by US government securities when a shortage of “eligible paper” held by Federal Reserve banks would have required such currency to be backed by gold.  The Federal Reserve Board explained that the special lending to Federal Reserve member banks permitted by the 1932 Glass–Steagall Act would only be permitted in “unusual and temporary circumstances.”  It was also under Glass-Steagall that consumer and commercial banks were prohibited from dealing in what is now today’s investment banking, seeking to keep deposits of customers away from speculation, a root cause of the Depression.  Glass-Steagall was largely overturned in the legislation that among other things, allowed the merger of Citigroup and The Travelers’ Insurance Company in 1998.  Subsequently, and more vociferously since the Great Recession of 2008, there has been an outcry for a return to this type of regulation, if for nothing more than to separate consumer banking from the risks of investment banking.
    1937 – The Marx Brothers movie, “A Day at the Races,” opened in LA.   
    1937 – Erich Segal (d. 2010) was born in Brooklyn.  He was best known for writing the novel “Love Story” (1970), a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit.
    1938 – Author Joyce Carol Oates was born in Lockport, NY.
    1938 - The St. Louis Browns walked Red Sox slugger Jimmie Foxx all six times he came to bat but the Browns still won, 12-8. This set the American League record for in a nine-inning game and matched the mark set by Walt Wilmot in the National League in 1891.
    1939 – Country rock singer Billy (Crash) Craddock was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. Craddock scored a hit on the pop charts in 1959 with “Don’t Destroy Me,” then quit the music business because his record company wouldn’t allow him to record country songs. Craddock began recording again in the late 1960’s, scoring hits with such rock-oriented country tunes as “Dream Lover,” a former chart success for Johnny Burnette, and “Knock Three Times,” a hit on the pop charts for Dawn. Billy (Crash) Craddock topped the Billboard country chart in 1977 with “Broken Down in Tiny Pieces.”
    1940 – Blues singer Nolan Struck born Dunson, LA
http://centerstage.net/music/whoswho/NolanStruck.html
    1941 – The first federally-owned airport, National Airport, opened in Washington, DC.  Between 1926 and 1938, there was a statutory prohibition against federal development of airports. When Congress lifted the prohibition in 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt made a recess appropriation of $15 million to build National Airport by reallocating funds from other purposes. Construction of Washington National Airport began in 1940–41 although Congress challenged the legality of FDR's recess appropriation, but construction of the new airport continued.  In 1998, it was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to honor the former President.  The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) operates the airport with close oversight by the federal government due to its proximity to the national capital.
    1941 – President Roosevelt ordered the closure of all German consulates in the US no later than July 10.
    1941 – LaMont Dozier was born in Detroit.  A member of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team responsible for much of the Motown sound and numerous hit records by artists such as Martha and The Vandellas, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Isley Brothers, along with Brian Holland, Dozier served as the team's musical arranger and producer, while Eddie Holland concentrated mainly on lyrics and vocal production.
    1943 - *SARNOSKI, JOSEPH R., (Air Mission) Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 43rd Bomber Group, Place and date: Over Buka Area, Solomon Islands, 16 June 1943. Entered service at: Simpson, Pa. Born. 30 January 1915, Simpson, Pa. G.O. No.: 85, 17 December 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. On 16 June 1943, 2d Lt. Sarnoski volunteered as bombardier of a crew on an important photographic mapping mission covering the heavily defended Buka area, Solomon Islands. When the mission was nearly completed, about 20 enemy fighters intercepted. At the nose guns, 2d Lt. Sarnoski fought off the first attackers, making it possible for the pilot to finish the plotted course. When a coordinated frontal attack by the enemy extensively damaged his bomber, and seriously injured 5 of the crew, 2d Lt. Sarnoski, though wounded, continued firing and shot down 2 enemy planes. A 20-millimeter shell which burst in the nose of the bomber knocked him into the catwalk under the cockpit. With indomitable fighting spirit, he crawled back to his post and kept on firing until he collapsed on his guns. 2d Lt. Sarnoski by resolute defense of his aircraft at the price of his life, made possible the completion of a vitally important mission.
    1943 - ZEAMER, JAY JR., (Air Mission) Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Over Buka area, Solomon Islands, 16 June 1943. Entered service at: Machias, Maine. Birth: Carlisle, Pa. G.O. No.: 1, 4 January 1944. Citation: On 16 June 1943, Maj. Zeamer (then Capt.) volunteered as pilot of a bomber on an important photographic mapping mission covering the formidably defended area in the vicinity of Buka, Solomon Islands. While photographing the Buka airdrome. his crew observed about 20 enemy fighters on the field, many of them taking off. Despite the certainty of a dangerous attack by this strong force, Maj. Zeamer proceeded with his mapping run, even after the enemy attack began. In the ensuing engagement, Maj. Zeamer sustained gunshot wounds in both arms and legs, 1 leg being broken. Despite his injuries, he maneuvered the damaged plane so skillfully that his gunners were able to fight off the enemy during a running fight which lasted 40 minutes. The crew destroyed at least 5 hostile planes, of which Maj. Zeamer himself shot down 1. Although weak from loss of blood, he refused medical aid until the enemy had broken combat. He then turned over the controls, but continued to exercise command despite lapses into unconsciousness, and directed the flight to a base 580 miles away. In this voluntary action, Maj. Zeamer, with superb skill, resolution, and courage, accomplished a mission of great value.
    1944 - McCARD, ROBERT HOWARD, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 25 November 1918, Syracuse, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as platoon sergeant of Company A, 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division, during the battle for enemy Japanese-held Saipan, Marianas Islands, on 16 June 1944. Cut off from the other units of his platoon when his tank was put out of action by a battery of enemy 77mm. guns, G/Sgt. McCard carried on resolutely, bringing all the tank's weapons to bear on the enemy, until the severity of hostile fire caused him to order his crew out of the escape hatch while he courageously exposed himself to enemy guns by hurling hand grenades, in order to cover the evacuation of his men. Seriously wounded during this action and with his supply of grenades exhausted, G/Sgt. McCard then dismantled one of the tank's machineguns and faced the Japanese for the second time to deliver vigorous fire into their positions, destroying 16 of the enemy but sacrificing himself to insure the safety of his crew. His valiant fighting spirit and supreme loyalty in the face of almost certain death reflect the highest credit upon G/Sgt. McCard and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
    1944 - At age 14, George J. Stinney, Jr. (d. 1944) became the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th century.  Stinney, an African-American from South Carolina, was convicted in a two-hour trial of the first-degree murder of two white girls: 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker, and 8-year-old Mary Emma Thames. However, no physical evidence existed in the case, and the sole evidence against Stinney was the circumstantial fact that the girls had spoken with Stinney and his sister shortly before their murder, and the testimony of three police officers that Stinney had confessed. He was executed by electric chair.  Since Stinney's conviction and execution, the question of his guilt, the validity of his confession, and the judicial process leading to his execution have been criticized as "suspicious at best and a miscarriage of justice at worst. “On December 17, 2014, his conviction was posthumously vacated 70 years after his execution.
    1946 - Trumpet player Tom Harrell’s birthday, born Urbana, IL.
http://home.earthlink.net/~tomharrell/harrbio.html
http://www.epinions.com/Music-Tom_Harrell_albums?sp=imed
    1947 – The first network newscast aired on DuMont, “News from Washington.”
    1951 - Top Hits
“Too Young” - Nat King Cole
“On Top of Old Smokey” - The Weavers (vocal: Terry Gilkyson)
“Syncopated Clock” - The Leroy Anderson Orchestra
“I Want to Be with You Always” - Lefty Frizzell
    1952 - Canadian pop singer and composer Gino Vannelli was born in Montreal. He had his first international hit in 1974 with "People Gotta Move." Vannelli's recording of "I Just Wanna Stop" was a million-seller, and garnered the singer a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award as male vocalist of the year in 1978. Vanelli traded heavily on his sex symbol image - good looks, shoulder length curly hair and tight jeans - during the 1970's. But that image was toned down with the release of his 1985 comeback album, "Black Cars."
    1952 - Gale Storm, as Margie Albright, and Charles Farrell, as her father Vernon Albright, starred in "My Little Margie" which debuted on CBS-TV. Fans of the popular comedy will remember that "My Little Margie" was based at the Carlton Arms Hotel, Apartment 10-A. Vern Albright was a very eligible widower who worked for the investment firm of Honeywell and Todd. Margie Albright, his 21-year-old daughter, was continually scheming to help dad and continually causing big trouble while helping.
    1953 – Duane Pillette of the St. Louis Browns stopped the Yankees’ win streak at 18 and the Browns' team record 14-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory in Yankee Stadium. Johnny Mize became the 93rd player in Major League history to get 2,000 hits when he singled in the only Yankees' run in the 5th inning. These Yankees would go onto win the 1953 World Series, their fifth consecutive championship, a mark unequalled in Major League history.
    1956 - Capitol Records released "Be-Bop-A-Lula" by Gene Vincent (1935-71) and His Blue Caps. Vincent was hailed as Capitol’s answer to Elvis Presley. Of the three songs Vincent Eugene Craddock had hit the airwaves, "Lula" was biggest hit to make the pop music charts. The other songs were "Lotta Lovin’," and "Dance to the Bop."
    1956 - A 31-year-old woman named Gogi Grant knocked Elvis out of Billboard's number one spot with a song called "The Wayward Wind." It was a tune that she recorded almost as an afterthought, with just fifteen minutes of studio time remaining. Six weeks later, Elvis would be back on top with "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You."
    1956 - Patti Page saw what would be her biggest hit, "Allegheny Moon," enter the Billboard chart, where it would reach #2 during a 22-week run. In all, the Oklahoma native would place sixteen songs in the Top 40 between 1954 and 1965.
    1959 - Top Hits
“Personality” - Lloyd Price
“Quiet Village” - Martin Denny
“Tallahassee Lassie” - Freddy Cannon
“The Battle of New Orleans” - Johnny Horton
    1960 – The Hitchcock thriller “Psycho,” starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins, opened in NYC.
    1961 - Gary "U.S." Bonds performs his US Top Ten hit "Quarter To Three" on American Bandstand.
    1961 – Its first host, Dave Garroway, was fired from “Today” by NBC.
    1965 - Herman's Hermits were awarded their first Gold record for "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter." The song was originally an album cut that got so much air play in the US, MGM Records released it as a single.
    1966 - HOWARD, JIMMIE E., Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: Gunnery Sergeant (then S/Sgt.) U.S. Marine Corps, Company C, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 16 June 1966. Entered service at: Burlington, Iowa. Born: 27 July 1929, Burlington, Iowa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty. G/Sgt. Howard and his 18-man platoon were occupying an observation post deep within enemy-controlled territory. Shortly after midnight a Viet Cong force of estimated battalion size approached the marines' position and launched a vicious attack with small arms, automatic weapons, and mortar fire. Reacting swiftly and fearlessly in the face of the overwhelming odds, G/Sgt. Howard skillfully organized his small but determined force into a tight perimeter defense and calmly moved from position to position to direct his men's fire. Throughout the night, during assault after assault, his courageous example and firm leadership inspired and motivated his men to withstand the unrelenting fury of the hostile fire in the seemingly hopeless situation. He constantly shouted encouragement to his men and exhibited imagination and resourcefulness in directing their return fire. When fragments of an exploding enemy grenade wounded him severely and prevented him from moving his legs, he distributed his ammunition to the remaining members of his platoon and proceeded to maintain radio communications and direct air strikes on the enemy with uncanny accuracy. At dawn, despite the fact that 5 men were killed and all but 1 wounded, his beleaguered platoon was still in command of its position. When evacuation helicopters approached his position, G/Sgt. Howard warned them away and called for additional air strikes and directed devastating small-arms fire and air strikes against enemy automatic weapons positions in order to make the landing zone as secure as possible. Through his extraordinary courage and resolute fighting spirit, G/Sgt. Howard was largely responsible for preventing the loss of his entire platoon. His valiant leadership and courageous fighting spirit served to inspire the men of his platoon to heroic endeavor in the face of overwhelming odds, and reflect the highest credit upon G/Sgt. Howard, the Marine Corps, and the U.S. Naval Service.
    1967 - The Monterey International Pop Festival opened in California. It was the first major rock festival and attracted 50,000 people over three days. Ticket prices ranged from $3.50 to $6.50 to see more than two dozen top rock acts. The performers played for free. The festival was immortalized in D.A. Pennebaker's 1969 documentary "Monterey Pop." Janis Joplin, The Jefferson Airplane, the Dead, Big Brother and other San Francisco artists performed. Fifty thousand spectators migrated to the site that featured Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Mamas and the Papas and The Who. It was one wild weekend and I remember the smoke, the stoned performers and audience, and everyone was rocking all day and night long. I had press passes from KFRC radio and also went back stage.  What I remember most
was the booze, marijuana, and everything else right out in the open.
http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/pop/monterey.htm
    1967 - Top Hits
“Respect” - Aretha Franklin
“Him or Me” - What’s It Gonna Be? - Paul Revere & The Raiders
“Somebody to Love” - Jefferson Airplane
“It’s Such a Pretty World Today” - Wynn Stewart
    1968 - Lee Trevino became the first golfer in 68 years to play all four rounds of the U.S. Open golf tournament with sub-par totals of 69, 68, 69 and 67, respectively, at Oak Hill in NY.
    1969 – The Supreme Court ruled that the House had acted unconstitutionally when it excluded Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a duly elected member.  He was the first person from New York of African-American descent to be elected to Congress and the fourth African-American from the North to be elected in the Post-Reconstruction Era.  He became a powerful national politician of the Democratic Party, re-elected numerous times and serving as a national spokesman on civil rights and social issues. He also urged presidents to support emerging nations in Africa and Asia as they gained independence after colonialism.  In 1961, after sixteen years in the House, Powell became chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, the most powerful position held by an African American in Congress. As Chairman, he supported the passage of important social legislation under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Following allegations of corruption, in 1967 Powell was excluded from his seat by Democratic Representatives-elect of the 90th Congress, but he was re-elected and regained the seat in the ruling in Powell v. McCormack.
    1970 – Golfer Phil Mickelson was born in San Diego.  He has won 42 events on the PGA Tour, including five majors: three Masters titles (2004, 2006, 2010), a PGA Championship (2005), and an Open Championship (2013).  Mickelson is one of 16 golfers in the history of the sport to win at least three of the four majors.  He has won every major except the US Open, where he has finished runner-up a record six times. 
    1972 - The only museum devoted exclusively to jazz music opened. The New York Jazz Museum welcomed visitors for the first time.
http://jazzmuseuminharlem.org/
    1974 – On “The Simpsons,” Homer Simpson and Marge Bouvier wed.  In June, 2015, they agreed to separate.  It remains a Fox TV staple and is in its 28th season.  Since its debut on December 17, 1989, 706 episodes of the show have been broadcast. It is the longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom and the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, both in terms of seasons and number of episodes.  On March 3, 2021, the series was announced to have been renewed for seasons 33 and 34.
    1975 - Top Hits
“Sister Golden Hair” - America
“Love Will Keep Us Together” - The Captain & Tennille
“I’m Not Lisa” - Jessi Colter
“When Will I Be Loved” - Linda Ronstadt
    1975 – The Milwaukee Bucks traded Kareem Abdul-Jabber and Walt Wesley to the LA Lakers.  He played the final 14 seasons of his career and won five additional NBA championships with LA. Abdul-Jabbar's contributions were a key component in the "Showtime" era of Lakers basketball.
    1977 - Oracle Corporation incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
    1978 - After much success on Broadway, “Grease,” came to the big screen when it premiered in New York City. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John starred in the hit movie. Several hit songs came out of the motion picture including "Grease," by Frankie Valli, "You're The One That I Want," and "Summer Nights," The first two songs went platinum selling 2,000,000+ copies, while the third sold a million.
    1978 – Tom Seaver pitched the only no-hitter of his career as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0, at Riverfront Stadium.
    1980 - The movie "The Blues Brothers" opened in Chicago, Illinois. Starring John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, both formerly of NBC’s "Saturday Night Live" the movie was a hit. The pair played Jake and Elwood Blues and were joined by celebrity guests James Brown, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin. Cab Calloway also appeared with a rendition of his song "Minnie the Moocher."
    1981 - For $20.5 million, the Tribune Company, owners of the Chicago Tribune, purchased the Chicago Cubs baseball team from the P.K. Wrigley Chewing Gum Company. For over 60 years, the Wrigley family had controlled the team. The longest continuous ownership of a team that stayed in its original city, ended with the sale.  The Ricketts family acquired a majority interest in the Cubs in 2009, ending the Tribune years.  After the 2011 season, owner Tom Ricketts signed Theo Epstein away from the Boston Red Sox, naming him club President and giving him a five-year contract worth over $18 million.  In 2014, the Cubs announced that former Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon had signed a five-year contract to be the manager, leading to the 2016 World Series championship over the Cleveland Indians, the first Cubs title since 1908.
    1981 – President Reagan awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81, becoming the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor.
    1983 - Top Hits
“Flashdance...What a Feeling” - Irene Cara
“Time (Clock of the Heart)” - Culture Club
“My Love” - Lionel Richie
“Our Love is on the Faultline” - Crystal Gayle
    1985 - No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: "Heaven," Bryan Adams.
    1985 – Willie Banks broke the world record for the triple jump with a leap of 58 feet, 11-1/2 inches in the U.S.A. championships in Indianapolis, IN.
    1987 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for $5,000,000. The 18-year veteran of the NBA became the highest paid player in any sport at the time.
    1987 - New York City subway gunman Bernhard Getz was acquitted on all but gun possession charges after shooting 4 black youths who tried to rob him.
    1988 - The largest operatic production in Canadian history was staged at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. About 30,000 people paid between $20 and $150 each to watch Verdi's "Aida" - complete with a 14-metre model of the Sphinx, elephants, tigers and a four-metre python. The stars were soprano Katia Ricciarelli in the title role and tenor Nicola Martinucci as Radames. Giuseppe Raffa conducted a 120-piece orchestra and a 140 member chorus. The production was repeated two nights later in the Olympic Stadium. An even more grandiose staging of "Aida" took place in 1987 at Giza, Egypt, site of the real Sphinx.
    1989 - Sammy Sosa becomes the youngest (20-years, seven months) Dominican to play in the Majors. The Ranger rookie goes 2-for-4 with a double against the Yankees.
    1989 - Daytime thunderstorms produced severe weather from northern Florida to the Middle Atlantic Coast. The thunderstorms spawned eight tornadoes, and there were 138 reports of large hail and damaging winds. Thunderstorm winds gusting to 87 mph caused $20 million damage at Columbia, SC. Strong thunderstorm winds killed one person at McLeansville, NC.
    1991 - Top Hits
“Rush, Rush” - Paula Abdul
“Love is a Wonderful Thing” - Michael Bolton
“Losing My Religion” - R.E.M.
“If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets)” - Joe Diffie
    1992 - Sister Souljah called future President Bill Clinton a "draft dodging, pot smoking womanizer." Clinton had criticized Sister Souljah on June 13, 1992.
    1992 – The first President Bush welcomed Russian President Boris Yeltsin to a meeting in Washington, DC. The two agreed in principle to reduce strategic weapon arsenals by about two-thirds by the year 2003.
    1993 - The US Postal Service released a set of seven stamps that featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington and Elvis Presley.
    1995 - "Batman Forever," the third film in the Batman series, premiered. Batman/Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) faces Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey). Add a sexy psychologist (Nicole Kidman), with a thing for Batman, and sidekick Robin (Chris O’Donnell), and you wind up with a smash: $52.78 million in the U.S. for opening weekend. Smash, Bang, Wow box-office, Batman!
    1996 – Legendary Yankees Hall of Fame broadcaster Mel Allen (1913-96) died. In 1939, Allen started doing play-by-play for both the Yankees and the New York Giants.  Later, he narrated the long-running television show, “This Week in Baseball.” In 1978, Allen received the Hall of Fame’s first Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence with former partner Red Barber.   
    1999 - Cher launched her "Believe" tour in Phoenix, Arizona. The CD had become a worldwide smash, and the single made Cher, at 52, the oldest woman to have a song hit Number 1 on the charts. It was the first time in nearly a decade that the exotic, charismatic diva had gone on a concert tour. To an enthusiastic sell-out crowd, she performed the hits from her "Believe" album, and many of the public's favorite spanning the previous three decades.
    1999 - World-class sprinters all dream the impossible dream, to break the 100-meter world record. Maurice Greene’s dream came true at an invitational track meet in Athens, Greece, the birthplace of track and field events. Running in the stadium (home of the 2004 Olympics) with no wind at his back, his friend and training partner in another lane, 24-year-old Maurice Greene finished the 100 meters in 9.79 seconds. The previous record (9.84 seconds), set at the 1996 Olympics, belongs to Canada’s Donovan Bailey. Greene from Kansas City, Kansas is the first American to hold this sprint record since 1994. His training partner, Ato Boldon, placed second with a time of 9.86.
    1999 - The Circuit Court of Appeals said that a 1992 federal music piracy law does not prohibit a palm-sized device that can download high-quality digital music files from the Internet and play them at home.
    2000 - Heat wave ends in San Jose with records over 109 degrees and over 100 degrees in San Francisco, breaking all weather history records. In June, San Francisco recorded 104, its highest ever in the history of the city.
    2000 - Federal regulators approved the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. The merger created the nation's largest local phone company now known as Verizon.
    2001 - At Turner Field in a game which featured thousands of swarming moths, Boston beat the Braves and bugs in extra innings, 9-5. Although the insects had little bearing on the outcome of the game, the insects clearly bothered several players, including Dave Martinez who claimed to having sucked one into his mouth.
    2008 - California began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
    2012 - The Air Force’s robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returned to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission.
    2014 - General Motors recalled almost 3.4 additional vehicles for safety issues, bringing the current year recall total to almost 6 million.  GM CEO Mary Barra has been keeping the U.S. Congress informed of the company's corrective actions.
    2015 - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned artificial trans fats from all foods and beverages; the ban will go into effect in 2018.
    2015 – The St. Louis Cardinals were being investigated by the FBI because of allegations that one or more of their employees hacked into the Astros’ computer files and stole proprietary information.  The incident stemmed from current Astros GM Jeff Luhnow having once been a member of the Cardinals front office, where he had put together a state-of-the-art player information system called "Redbird." He had done the same after joining the Astros in 2014, but that system had been hacked, with the FBI tracing the intrusion to a computer in a home used by Cardinals employees. Such a case of industrial espionage was unprecedented in professional sports. On July 2, the Cards announced the firing of scouting director Chris Correa over his involvement in the scandal. On Jan 8, 2016, Correa pled guilty to five charges of hacking following an investigation by the FBI.  On July 18, 2016, he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes to a 46-month prison sentence followed by two years of supervised release, and to a fine of $279,037. On January 30, 2017, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred forced the Cardinals to pay $2 million in damages to the Astros, surrender their two top remaining picks in the 2017 - #46 and #75 - to Houston, and Correa was handed a lifetime ban from baseball.
    2017 - Amazon announces it is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion.
   
NBA Champions
    1996 - Chicago Bulls