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######## surrounding the article denotes it is a “press release,” it was not written by Leasing News nor has the information been verified. The source noted. When an article is signed by the writer, it is considered a “byline.” It reflects the opinion and research of the writer.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Determines New State Disclosure Laws
Are Not Preempted By Truth in Lending Act
By Marshall Goldberg, Esq.

By now, we are all exhausted from the time spent in preparation for the new California, New York and other disclosure laws, where some, like California, have already gone into effect. These laws require commercial lenders to provide detailed disclosures to borrowers before finalizing a loan transaction. Most lenders have created templates to comply with the new laws, which must include a detailed breakdown of all the costs associated with the loan, the loan’s interest rate, fees, annual percentage rate (“APR”) and other costs associated with the loan.

Several trade associates have challenged these new disclosure laws by requesting the Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to determine whether the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) preempts these state laws.

On March 28 2023, the CFPB determined that state disclosure laws covering lending to businesses in California, New York, Utah, and Virginia are not preempted by the federal TILA.

TILA, which was enacted in 1968, requires lenders to disclose key terms of a loan to borrowers. TILA applies to all consumer credit transactions, including mortgages, and requires lenders to disclose the APR, finance charges, and the total amount of payments over the life of the loan. It also requires lenders to provide borrowers with a right of rescission, which allows borrowers to cancel the loan within three days of closing.

At first glance, it may seem that the new disclosure laws and TILA overlap and conflict with one another. However, the CFPB has determined that upon closer examination, these new laws actually complement and enhance the protections provided by TILA. The new laws provide more detailed and comprehensive disclosures than those required by TILA. For example, the loan estimate provided by lenders under California’s new laws includes a breakdown of the loan’s interest rate, fees, and other costs associated with the loan, while TILA only requires disclosure of the APR and finance charges.

Additionally, California’s new laws require lenders to disclose any potential future changes to the interest rate or payments, which TILA does not require.

While there may be some overlap between California’s new disclosure laws and TILA, CFPB has determined that the new laws enhance and complement the protections provided by TILA. By providing more detailed and comprehensive disclosures to borrowers, these new disclosure laws empower small businesses to make informed decisions about their loans. The purpose of the new laws is to help ensure that borrowers are not caught off guard by unexpected fees or changes to their loan terms. Overall, these new disclosure laws are intended as an important step forward in protecting consumers and small businesses in the financial industry.

Marshall Goldberg
Glass & Goldberg, A Law Corporation
22917 Burbank Blvd.
Woodland Hills, CA 91367-4203
(818) 474-1532 Direct
(818) 888-2220 Main
(818) 888-2229 Facsimile
mgoldberg@glassgoldberg.com
www.glassgoldberg.com

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Advice to those in Commercial Finance and Leasing
By Bob Rodi
(One of the old timers of the industry, remarked in LinkedIn - Editor)

(1995 Photo)

It's funny how history repeats itself. Some of us have been here before, haven't we?-- The late 80s and the Real Estate crash that spawned the RTC (resolution trust corp.), then in the late 90's and the first internet crash, then in 2008 for the "Great Recession".

The current "banking crisis" feels pretty mild compared to those last three cycles. Credit will tighten, rates will increase, business owners will have to invest a little more and take a little less for a year or two but, that's the nature of the business cycle. If you are new at this and it's the first time you've seen it, take heart.

I can guarantee it won't be the last time and I can also guarantee that you will fight through it and probably be around for the next time it happens. Don't let your banker's anxiety become yours.

Remember to Innovate, Adapt and Overcome!!

Bob Rodi
brodi1809@gmail.com
Twitter BobRodi
Rodi Franchise and Small Business Consulting
linkedin.com/in/bob-rodi-1437246

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New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
and Related Industries

Blake Anderson, CLFP, was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Relationship Management, Amur, Grand Island, Nebraska. He is located in West Des Moines, Iowa. He joined Amur November, 2020, Relationship Manger, promoted October, 2021, Relationship Management Lead. Full Bio:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-anderson-clfp-85642598/details/experience/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-anderson-clfp-85642598/

Moriah Brown was promoted to Funder II, Hanna Bank, Irvine, California. She joined Hanna Bank April, 2021, Funder. Previously, she was at Partners Capital Group, starting October, 2019, Office Administrator, promoted January, 2021, Jr. Funder, promoted March, 2021, Funder.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amoriahbrown/details/experience/

Francisca Yanett Mercado Castro was promoted to Senior Sales Associate, Blue Bridge Financial, Inc., Reston, Virginia. She is located in Yuba City, California. She joined Blue Bridge March, 2022, as Sales Associate. Previously, she was Direct Banking Relationship Manager, Tri Counties Bank (2020 - March, 2022); Regional Sales Manager, Ascentium Capital (October, 2018 - 2020); Account Executive, TopMark Funding, LLC (May, 2017 - 2018); Account Manager, Go Capital USA (May, 2017 - October 2017). https://www.linkedin.com/in/francisca-yanett-mercado-castro-340306155/

Crystal Murcha, CLFP, has been promoted to Assistant Vice President, Relationship Management, Amur, Grand Island, Nebraska. She is located in Clover, South Carolina. She joined Amur September, 2021, as Relationship Manager. Previously, she was Director of Sales, Blue Bridge Financial (July, 2014 - September, 2021); Coordinator of Documentation and Funding, AXIS Capital (July, 2007 - July 2014); Purchasing Agent, Steiger Craft Boats (August, 2002 - September, 2007).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystal-murcha-clfp-58896723/

Steven Weidler was hired as Senior Account Manager, Canon Financial Services, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Previously, he was National Account Executive, Marlin Business Services Corp., Part-time (October, 2017 - March, 2023). He joined Enterprise Rent-a-Car, October, 2015, Assistant Manager, promoted September, 2014, Management Assistant, promoted October, 2015, Account Executive.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-weidler-6a7763bb/

Valerie Wood was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Relationship Development, Amur, Grand Island, Nebraska. She joined Amur May, 2016, as Sales Coordinator, promoted May, 2018, Relationship Development Manager, promoted February, 2021, Senior Relationship Development Manager. Previously, she was Planner, Inland We Power Great Packaging (January, 2013 - February, 2016); Pricing, Mills Fleet Farm (November, 2009 - May, 2013).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-wood-47063349/

Comments on CEO/President Ralph Petta
announcing his retirement after 36 Years at ELFA

Note there were more responses, especially in 15 Linkedin Groups.

(Sample: Chronological Order Received - Editor).

"I responded to the announcement you posted on LinkedIn. In my mind, Petta may be the most influential and progressive ELFA CEO in their history, given the period of his tenure and the wide-ranging transitions and changes he oversaw within the industry."

Ralph Mango
Associate Editor/Leasing News

"He should also be credited with recognizing the CLFP Foundation, and then the companies started joining and participating. In the past, it was primarily individuals who were supporting them (as well as ASCFB and NEFA, but they were smaller associations and also had many members who were smaller companies and individuals."

Anonymous

"We will be forever grateful for the support from Ralph and the ELFA. I’m so happy for him as he can enjoy retirement with his beautiful wife. He will surely be missed though and there is a campaign for “one more year!”

Reid Raykovich, CLFP
CEO CLFP Foundation

"Although not on the 'scale' of Ralph’s recognition of the CLFP foundation I appreciated the effort Ralph took to bring live music to most events and to support local musicians. He also showed a different side of many musically inclined members and employees of the association.

"Fun should not be overrated – it was refreshing to have Ralph inject some fun into many events.

"A class act to be sure"

Hugh Swandel, President
Meridian OneCap Credit Corp

"Ralph has also been instrumental in growing the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation.

"Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring thoughtful innovation and contributing to the betterment of the equipment leasing and finance industry.

"Plus, best of all Ralph has not only given back the industry for most of his adult career. He is also an exceptional CEO an industry leader and engaged advocate up on Capitol Hill. Helping foster dialog and protecting our rights as an industry. Ralph, is also a good human, and has built a great culture within the ELFA organization and his trusted staff."

Randy Haug| EVP/ Co-Founder
LTi Technology Solutions

Announcement:
Ralph Petta Announces Retirement
A Surprise to the Leasing and Finance Industry
By Kit Menkin
https://leasingnews.org/archives/Mar2023/03_29.htm#petta

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

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

Five Takeaways from ELFA Webinar on
Fraud Detection, Mitigation and Prevention

WASHINGTON, DC, – Types of fraud common in the equipment finance industry, ways to identify fraud, and solutions to prevent and mitigate it were the topics of the ELFA’s recent webinar, “Fraud: What’s Old is New Again.” Debbie Devassy Babu, Shareholder, Darcy & Devassy PC; Kristian Dolan, CLFP, CEO, Northteq; and Jeffry Elliott, CLFP, President, Huntington Equipment Finance presented the session that shared best practices for processes and technologies to combat fraud.

More than 175 industry professionals participated in the March 8 event, which spanned high-tech solutions to common sense “gut checks.” The following are among the webinar highlights.

Borrower frauds. One of the most common frauds consists of the borrower entering into the transaction with no intention of making payments and vanishing once they have the equipment or loan proceeds. Equipment that is valuable and mobile, such as trucking equipment, is particularly susceptible. Another common fraud is the use of shell corporations so that assets aren’t in the borrower’s name, or to transfer assets to another entity once the borrower has passed a credit check and obtained the equipment. In some instances, a borrower will purchase an established company to exploit its good reputation to commit fraud. Another typical fraud involves titled vehicles where the borrower refuses to list the lender’s lien on the title.

Vendor frauds. One of the most common vendor frauds involves sham vendors that operate solely to commit fraud. They accept payment from the lender, then don’t deliver the equipment to the borrower and vanish. Another is a vendor that colludes with a borrower to falsify transactions or forges signatures of legitimate borrowers. When the borrower is complicit they may receive a kickback from the vendor for going along with the sham. A more difficult fraud to spot is a once-reputable vendor that commits fraud due to financial straits or other issues. In such cases they may create fictitious borrowers, or use existing borrower information to defraud the lender.

Fraud during transaction. Payments by existing accounts can be exploited to be “paid away” to a fraudulent party. This type of fraud can target both lenders and borrowers through online phishing, system hacking or stealing emails and using identity theft to disguise emails to redirect payments. Companies of all sizes that don’t have systems in place to secure their communications can be vulnerable. To combat these and other cyber threats, lenders should consider cyber insurance which requires multifactor authentication, and using manual as well as automated process controls.

Fraud red flags. Among the key warning signs of fraud lenders should look for are the number of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings against a borrower, to determine whether they make sense for the size of the borrower. Also look at factors such as whether the type of equipment, the dollar amount of the transaction and the geographic proximity of the borrower to the vendor are reasonable and make sense for the borrower. Assess the vendor’s reputation and years in business, and call them directly to verify they are legitimate. For more expensive equipment, a physical inspection should be considered to verify the equipment exists.

Fraud mitigation and prevention. Fraud can be mitigated by detection technology through third-party applications and software service providers. A recent study by the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, “Specialized Apps, Software and Information Services for the Equipment Leasing & Finance Industry,” includes a guide to companies offering fraud risk management capabilities. Solutions include UCC filing searches that can reveal abnormal amounts of activity, device and IP checks of the originating party, email and address verification, proprietary network scores of borrower companies, document validation and secretary of state business verification.

To access a free copy of the Foundation’s study, “Specialized Apps, Software, and Information Services for the Equipment Leasing & Finance Industry,” visit: https://bit.ly/ELFFAppsSoftwareStudy

A recording of the March 8 webinar and the webinar slides are available at https://www.elfaonline.org/webinars

About ELFA
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) is the trade association that represents companies in the $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 580 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. ELFA has been equipping business for success for more than 60 years. For more information, please visit www.elfaonline.org.

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

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Watch at Home
by Fernando Croce, Leasing News Movie Reviewer

The latest streaming releases offers a quintet of quality dramas from various different nations, ranging from emotional indies (“Causeway,” “To Leslie”) and remakes of classics (“Living”) to coming-of-age tales (“The Quiet Girl”) and a veteran master’s latest vision (“EO”).

Causeway (AppleTV+): Solid acting boosters this earnest, raw indie drama dealing with trauma. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Lynsey, a U.S. Army soldier recovering from her experience in Afghanistan. Suffering from brain injury following an explosion, she must painfully recover not just physically but also spiritually in her New Orleans home. As she gropes for a way out of her numbed state, Lynsey meets James (Best Supporting Actor nominee Brian Tyree Henry), a local mechanic who, dealing with his own trauma from a car accident, shares much in common with her. Their friendship proves to be vital for the healing of both people, as they share emotional confessions. Marking the feature debut of theater director Lila Neugebauer, this is a worthy project anchored by the warm rapport between Lawrence and Henry.

EO (iTunes, Vudu, Criterion Channel): Veteran Polish master Jerzy Skolimowski (“Moonlighting”) offers an impressionistic snapshot of contemporary Europe through animal eyes in this luminous drama, which is told through the eyes of a donkey. Part of a traveling circus act, the equine protagonist passes from owner to owner, from toiling the land of farmers to becoming a soccer team’s mascot. The unavoidable comparison is to Robert Bresson’s classic “Au Hasard Balthazar” (1966), though the film casts an indelible spiritual spell of its own as the donkey finds a possible paradise after a road of abuse. Using images and sounds rather than dialogue and plot, Skolimowski creates a trenchant, vigorous, and ultimately moving view of a brutish world transformed by the possibilities of pure cinema. A deserved Foreign Language Picture nominee. With subtitles.

Living (iTunes, Vudu): Akira Kurosawa’s moving classic “Ikiru” gets an update in this quietly devastating drama, which moves the action from Japan to England. Best Actor nominee Bill Nighy plays Rodney Williams, a veteran bureaucrat in 1950s London. When he receives a diagnosis of terminal cancer, he decides to get his affairs in order. Estranged from his family but invigorated by the youthful energy of a former colleague (Aimee Lou Wood), he decides to leave a positive mark in the world with one final project before time runs out—helping with the construction of a children’s playground. Directed by Oliver Hermanus, this is an effective tearjerker that triumphs due to restraint, both in the filmmaking and in the dignity and humanity Nighy radiates behind his character’s stiff upper lip.

The Quiet Girl (Vudu): The first Irish-language film to be nominated for an Oscar, Colm Bairéad’s drama is an exceptionally vivid and sensitive portrayal of childhood. Taking place in rural Ireland during the early 1980s, it follows Cáit (Catherine Clinch), a pensive 9-year-old girl doing her best to survive in a poor, neglectful household. Her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) is loaded with chores and her father (Michael Patric) prefers women and drink to family life. A glimmer of hope appears when she’s sent to spend summer with distant relatives, and the change to a kinder, more nurturing environment allows her to blossom. Gently adopting the point-of-view of the tiny heroine, the film subtly charts the small epiphanies on a child’s journey of discovery, shading delicate light into heartbreak. With subtitles.

To Leslie (iTunes, Vudu): British actress Andrea Riseborough is impeccably convincing as a West Texas troubled woman in this gritty portrait of desperation and redemption, which won her an Oscar nod for Best Actress. Virtually homeless in the wake of years of bad decisions, Leslie (Riseborough) is an alcoholic wanderer of motels and bars who’s grown estranged from her son, James (Owen Teague), and only friend, Nancy (Allison Janney). A sliver of hope comes when Sweeney (Marc Maron), the kind owner of a local motel, gives her a chance by hiring her as a maid. But can Leslie control her self-destructive streak long enough to achieve her dreams? Crafted with intimacy and empathy by director Michael Morris, the film is an unflinching but ultimately hopeful look at flawed people.

Fernando Croce is a nationally recognized film reviewer and has been contributing to Leasing News since the summer of 2008. His reviews appear each Friday.

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This Day in American History

      1774 – Great Britain ordered the port of Boston closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
    1849 - Colonel John W Geary arrives as the first postmaster of San Francisco. He will get a street named after him.
    1850 – The U.S. population hit 23,191,876.
    1854 - In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan.
    1870 - Thomas Peterson-Mundy, of Perth Amboy, NJ, became the first black to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment, passed by Congress in February, 1870. It prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments.
    1871 - Millions of birds fly over San Francisco and darken the sky.
    1878 - John "Jack" Arthur Johnson (d. 1946) birthday, Galveston, TX. In 1908, Johnson became the first black to win the heavyweight boxing championship when he defeated Tommy Burns at Sydney, Australia. Unable to accept a black man's triumph, the boxing world tried to find a white challenger. Jim Jeffries, former heavyweight title holder, was badgered out of retirement. On July 4, 1910, at Reno, Nevada, the "battle of the century" proved to be a farce when Johnson handily defeated Jeffries. Race riots swept the US and plans to exhibit the film of the fight were canceled. Johnson died in an automobile accident June 10, 1946 at Raleigh, NC. He was inducted in the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. The film "The Great White Hope” is based on his life.
    1880 - The first electric street lights installed by a municipality were turned on in Wabash, Indiana.
    1883 - The Olympic Town-Ball Club of Philadelphia celebrated its 50th anniversary.
    1889 – The Eiffel Tower opened to the public in Paris.
    1890 - Saint Louis, MO, received 20 inches of snow in 24 hours. It was the worst snowstorm of record for the St Louis.
    1895 - Birthday of Lizzie Miles (d. 1963), born Elizabeth Mary Landreaux in New Orleans. Popular black singer in New Orleans and Los Angeles in the 1920's and 30's, developed a style known as "gumbo French" jazz.
    1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later to become the NCAA, was established to set rules for college sports in the US.
    1909 – Construction began on RMS Titanic.
    1917 - Transfer Day commemorates the transfer resulting from purchase of the Virgin Islands by the US from Denmark, March 31, 1917, for $25 million.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/mar31.html
    1918 - Daylight Savings Time went into effect throughout the U.S. for the first time. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson in 1895. Many publications credit DST's proposal to the prominent English builder and outdoorsman William Willett who independently conceived DST in 1905 during a pre-breakfast ride, when he observed with dismay how many Londoners slept through a large part of a summer's day. His solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The first Daylight Saving Bill was presented to the House of Commons on February 12, 1908 but did not become law. William Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30, 1916, Germany and Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime. Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the next year and the United States adopted it in 1918.
   1922 - KFI-AM in Los Angeles CA begins radio transmissions.
    1927 – Cesar Chavez (d. 1993) was born in Yuma, AZ. One of America’s greatest labor leaders and champions of social justice who organized migrant farmworkers for better working conditions. He initiated the United Farm Workers Association in 1962, attraction attention to their plight by organizing boycotts of farm products including grapes and lettuce. His birthday is a holiday in California.
    1929 - Birthday of Liz Claiborne (d. 2007) Brussels, Belgium. Founder, president, CEO and chair as well as fashion designer of Liz Claiborne, Inc., a billion-dollar corp. Her mother taught her to sew and Liz says instilled ambition in her.
   1930 - The Motion Picture Production Code was instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty-eight years.
   1930 - Scotch Tape is first sold. Richard Drew, a 3M engineer, developed the first transparent sticky tape in St. Paul, MN with material known as cellophane. Drew's inspiration came from watching auto-engineers try to achieve smooth paintings on two-color cars. It was then that he created Scotch masking tape, and later evolved the product to be transparent. In 1932, John A. Borden, also a 3M engineer, built the tape dispenser to hold the fast-selling new product. During the Great Depressions, the versatility and durability of Scotch tape led to a surge in demand, as customers used it to mend household items like books, curtains, clothing, etc. It had industrial applications as well: Goodyear used it to tape the inner supportive ribs of dirigibles to prevent corrosion.
    1931 – TWA Flight 599 crashed near Bazaar, KS, killing eight, including Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.
    1932 – Author John Jakes was born in Chicago. Best known for American historical fiction. His Civil War trilogy, “North and South,”, has sold millions of copies worldwide. He is also the author of “The Kent Family Chronicles.” His works have sold in excess of 60 million copies worldwide.
  1933 – The Civilian Conservation Corps was established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment in the United States.
    1934 - Birthday of Shirley Jones, Charleroi, PA. After a very successful stage career in such musicals as “Oklahoma!” which she brought to the screen in 1955, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in “Elmer Gantry” (1960). Best known to a generation for her TV work in “The Partridge Family.”
   1935 – Herb Alpert was born in LA. Most associated with the group Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Alpert is also a recording industry executive, the "A" of A&M Records, a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded.   Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist ("This Guy’s in Love with You", 1968), and an instrumentalist ("Rise", 1979).
    1943 - Rogers and Hammerstein's landmark musical “Oklahoma!” their first collaboration, opened at the St. James Theatre. It had its world premiere under the title “Away we Go" at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, CT, on March 11, 1943. Oklahoma is considered significant because it was the first musical in which songs, music, characterization and story are integrated into an emotional whole. It changed musicals forever. It was also the first musical to run more than 2,000 performances and to have a cast album recorded. Agnes de Mille was the choreographer. It received a special Pulitzer Prize for drama on May 2, 1944. In 1957, "Oklahoma" became that state's official song.
    1945 - Tennessee Williams' "Glass Menagerie" premieres in New York NY.
   1945 – Comedian, actor, director Gabe Kaplan was born in Brooklyn. A stand-up comic, he starred in the TV series, “Welcome Back, Kotter,” (ABC 1975-79) about the return of a teacher to the high school he attended. His class included a racially and ethnically diverse remedial class called the "Sweathogs," among whom was John Travolta as Vinny Barbarino in his first major role. After “Kotter.” Kaplan returned to his stand-up roots and became involved in the beginnings of the World Poker Tour on which he has won in excess of $1 million.
    1948 - J. D. Salinger's short story "A Perfect Day for Banana Fish" appears in "The New Yorker."
http://jdsalinger.com/
   1949 - RCA Victor introduces the 45 rpm single record, which had been in development since 1940. The 7-inch disc was designed to compete with the 33 1/3 LP introduced by Columbia a year earlier. Both formats offered better fidelity and longer playing time than the 78 rpm platter that was currently in use. Advertisements for new record players boasted that with 45 RPM records, the listener could hear up to ten records with speedy, silent, hardly noticeable changes. Remember that the next time you load your iPod.
   1951 – Remington Rand delivered the first UNIVAC I computer to the US Census Bureau. The UNIVAC I became known for predicting the outcome of the U.S. presidential election the following year: this incident is noteworthy because the computer predicted an Eisenhower landslide over Adlai Stevenson, whereas the final Gallup poll had Eisenhower winning the popular vote 51-49 in a close contest. The prediction left CBS’ news boss in New York, Sigfried Mickelson, to believe the computer was in error, and he refused to allow the prediction to be read. Instead, the crew showed some staged theatrics that suggested the computer was not responsive, and announced it was predicting 8-7 odds for an Eisenhower win (the actual prediction was 100-1 in his favor).
    1954 - Top Hits
“Make Love to Me!” - Jo Stafford
“Wanted” - Perry Como
“Answer Me, My Love” - Nat ‘King’ Cole
“Slowly” - Webb Pierce
    1954 - The temperature at Rio Grande City, TX, hit 108 degrees, which for thirty years was a U.S. record for the month of March.
    1955 - Chase National (3rd largest bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest bank) merge to form Chase Manhattan.
    1956 – Brenda Lee made her US television debut, singing an unrehearsed version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" on ABC-TV's “Ozark Jamboree.”
    1958 - Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is released. It would enter the Billboard chart six weeks later and rise to number 8.
  1962 – The Shirelles released “Soldier Boy,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100.
    1962 - Top Hits
“Don’t Break the Heart that Loves You” - Connie Francis
“Johnny Angel” - Shelley Fabares
“Dream Baby” - Roy Orbison
“She’s Got You” - Patsy Cline
   1962 - A tornado struck the town of Milton, FL, killing 17 persons and injuring 100 others. It was the worst tornado disaster in Florida history.
   1962 - The Pacific Coast League proposal to use a DH was voted down 8-1 by the Professional Baseball Rules Committee. Prompted by the Cubs’ college of coaches, the committee also ruled each team must name a manager 30 minutes prior to the game. The DH will not come into Major League use until 1973, when it is adopted by the American League. The National League still prohibits the DH although MLB mandated its use in both leagues in 2020 as an experiment, one of many driven by the pandemic-shortened season.
    1965 - US ordered the first combat troops to Vietnam
   1968 - President Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not run for another term of office. With the Vietnam War going badly, in late March, polls suggested that Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy would likely win the Wisconsin Democratic Primary. Following the Tet Offensive, which despite being a tactical victory, resulted in the deaths of thousands of American and South Vietnamese soldiers. The offensive included an invasion of the US Embassy in Saigon which led many Americans to believe that the North Vietnamese were stronger than had been reported, and that the war was not nearing an end, despite Johnson’s assurances otherwise. He stepped down, saying "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president." http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0331.html#article
   1970 - Top Hits
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” - Simon & Garfunkel
“Let It Be” - The Beatles
“Instant Karma” (“We All Shine On”) - John Ono Lennon
“The Fightin’ Side of Me” - Merle Haggard
    1971 - THACKER, BRIAN MILES, Medal of Honor
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Battery A, 1st Battalion, 92d Artillery. Place and date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 31 March 1971. Entered service at: Salt Lake City, Utah. Born: 25 April 1945, Columbus, Ohio. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Thacker, Field Artillery, Battery A, distinguished himself while serving as the team leader of an Integrated Observation System collocated with elements of 2 Army of the Republic of Vietnam units at Fire Base 6. A numerically superior North Vietnamese Army force launched a well-planned, dawn attack on the small, isolated, hilltop fire base. Employing rockets, grenades, flame-throwers, and automatic weapons, the enemy forces penetrated the perimeter defenses and engaged the defenders in hand-to-hand combat. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, 1st Lt. Thacker rallied and encouraged the U.S. and Republic of Vietnam soldiers in heroic efforts to repulse the enemy. He occupied a dangerously exposed observation position for a period of 4 hours while directing friendly air strikes and artillery fire against the assaulting enemy forces. His personal bravery and inspired leadership enabled the outnumbered friendly forces to inflict a maximum of casualties on the attacking enemy forces and prevented the base from being overrun. By late afternoon, the situation had become untenable. 1st Lt. Thacker organized and directed the withdrawal of the remaining friendly forces. With complete disregard for his personal safety, he remained inside the perimeter alone to provide covering fire with his M-16 rifle until all other friendly forces had escaped from the besieged fire base. Then, in an act of supreme courage, he called for friendly artillery fire on his own position to allow his comrades more time to withdraw safely from the area and, at the same time, inflict even greater casualties on the enemy forces. Although wounded and unable to escape from the area himself, he successfully eluded the enemy forces for 8 days until friendly forces regained control of the fire base. The extraordinary courage and selflessness displayed by 1st Lt. Thacker were an inspiration to his comrades and are in the highest traditions of the military service.
    1972 - Swimmer Mark Spitz was awarded the Amateur Athletic Union’s Sullivan Award as 1971's outstanding amateur athlete. Spitz went on to Olympic legendry a few months later, winning seven gold medals.
   1973 - Ken Norton defeated Muhammad Ali in a 12-round split decision. Ali had his jaw broken during the fight.
   1973 - A devastating tornado took a nearly continuous 75 mile path through north central Georgia causing more than 113 million dollars damage, the highest total of record for a natural disaster in the state.
   1977 – Less than six months before his death, during intermission at Elvis Presley's latest show in Baton Rouge, LA, the King became too ill to return to the stage. The concert was canceled and Elvis was admitted to Baptist Hospital in Memphis the next day, suffering from "fatigue" and "intestinal flu."
    1978 - Top Hits
“Night Fever” - Bee Gees
“Stayin’ Alive” - Bee Gees
“Lay Down Sally” - Eric Clapton
“Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” - Waylon & Willie
    1981 - The 1980 Academy Awards were presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, "Ordinary People" (Ronald L. Schwary, producer) won four Academy Awards at the 53rd Oscar ceremonies. Johnny Carson hosted the show from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Oscars were presented to a lot of ordinary people, like "Tess" and "Melvin and Howard." However, it was the Best Picture, "Ordinary People," that also won for Best Director (Robert Redford), Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton) and Best Writing (screenplay based on material from another medium: Alvin Sargent). Best Actor that year was Robert De Niro for "Raging Bull" and the Best Actress was Sissy Spacek for "Coal Miner’s Daughter." The Best Supporting Actress prize went to Mary Steenburgen for "Melvin and Howard" and Best Music/Song Oscars were awarded to Michael Gore (music) and Dean Pitchford (lyrics) for "Fame" from the film of the same name. A special award was given to Henry Fonda in recognition of his brilliant accomplishments and enduring contribution to the art of motion pictures.
    1985 - A reunion of stars lit up Beverly Hills, California, as ABC-TV celebrated the 200th episode of "The Love Boat." The network also honored the 1,000th guest star: Lana Turner. She was joined by Mary Martin, who was the 700th guest star to set sail on the show. Ginger Rogers was the 300th, Robert Guillaume #500 and we could go on but we won’t. "The Love Boat" had as a crew: Captain Merrill Stubing (Gavin MacLeod), Dr. Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell), Yeoman-Purser Burl ‘Gopher’ Smith (Fred Grandy, who went on to become a U.S. Congressman), Bartender Isaac Washington (Ted Lange) and Photographer Ashley Covington Evans (Ted McGinley). Singer Jack Jones provided the vocal to the opening theme song and Ernie Anderson was the distinctive voice for the millions of network promos before each show.
    1986 - Top Hits
“Rock Me Amadeus” - Falco
“R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” - John Cougar Mellencamp
“Kiss” - Prince & The Revolution
“Don’t Underestimate My Love for You” - Lee Greenwood
    1987 - HBO (Home Box Office) earned its first Oscar as "Down and Out in America" tied for Best Documentary feature. The cable-TV film played in a Los Angeles movie theatre for one week to qualify for the Academy Award.
   1989 - Afternoon thunderstorms produced severe weather from North Carolina to Pennsylvania. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 76 mph at Cape Henry, VA. While squalls blanketed northwest Pennsylvania with up to 9 inches of snow, thunderstorms in eastern Pennsylvania produced golf ball size hail at Avondale.
    1992 - The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, CA. Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the Japan’s surrender, which ended World War II.Missouri received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf. In 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.
   1995 - Concerned about embezzlement from her fan club and boutique accounts, Tejana singer Selena confronted Yolanda Saldivar, her recently-fired manager and first fan club founder, while they stayed in a motel in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the heated argument that ensued, Selena was shot fatally in the back by Saldivar. The bullet struck her in her right shoulder. With sapping strength, Selena ran in a panic to the motel lobby to get help. She collapsed in a pool of blood on the floor as the clerk called 911. An ambulance took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead about an hour later.
    1995 - The longest strike in sports history ended - in a courtroom. A U.S. District court order forbids owners from implementing new financial working conditions in the wake of the impasse in negotiations. The court decides that conditions will revert to the old rules from the previous season. Because of the timing of the court order, 18 games will have to be trimmed from the Major League schedule.
    1996 - For the first time in Major League history, the regular season opened in March with the Seattle Mariners beating the Chicago White Sox in 12 innings, 3 - 2, at the Kingdome. Five Mariners pitchers strike out 21 batters, with Randy Johnson fanning 14 Sox in seven innings.
    1996 - 15th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Tennessee beats Georgia 83-65.
    1997 - 59th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Arizona beats Kentucky 84-79 (OT)
   1998 – In their first games ever, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays lost to the Detroit Tigers, 11-6 while the Arizona Diamondbacks lost to the Colorado Rockies, 9-2.
    1998 – Netscape released Mozilla source code under an open source license.
    2000 - The $345 million Pacific Bell Park at Third and King Streets, San Francisco, opened with an exhibition game between the Giants and the Milwaukee Brewers. The Giants won 8-3. It is now known as Oracle Park.
    2012 - The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists merge to create the SAG-AFTRA union.
    2013 - Once the world's fastest computer, the IBM Roadrunner, was decommissioned; advances in chip design have surpassed its capabilities.

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