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AACFB Hosts Successful First Hybrid Conference
Awards and AACFB Bucks Given

The American Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (AACFB) wrapped up its first hybrid conference on Friday, September 10 in Nashville, Tennessee at the Grand Hyatt Nashville. While the attendance was slightly lower than previous years due to the pandemic, there were very few cancellations and the enthusiasm from attendees present was electric.

The three day event hosted 242 in-person attendees and 39 virtual-only attendees. Those who attended in person enjoyed the full program of events, including a fantastic day at the Gaylord Springs Golf Links for the annual golf tournament and the Women in Finance Luncheon, which took place at the Lou/na lounge atop the Grand Hyatt Nashville. Day one was capped off with the Opening Reception at the luxurious Grand Hyatt pool deck with live music and views of the city.

Both virtual and in-person attendees had the opportunity to attend 15 educational sessions, including a high-energy presentation by keynote speaker and well-known economist, Elliot Eisenberg, who truly made economics entertaining. All of the sessions were live-streamed and recorded, and all attendees will have access to the session recordings for the next year, which is a feature previously only available with fully virtual events. Session rooms looked a little different this year as they were formatted for social distancing. Additionally, masks, hand sanitizer, and comfort-level stickers were provided for in-person attendees to promote health and safety.

The exhibit hall was in full swing on Thursday and Friday where 45 exhibitors were finally able to make those all-important face-to-face connections. Attendees were also treated to a margarita bar, Bloody Mary bar, and ice cream breaks in the exhibit hall, courtesy of generous sponsors.

AACFB President, Carrie Radloff stated, “We were extremely pleased with the turnout at our first in-person event in two years, given all of the hurdles and challenges this year has posed. It was heart-warming to see so many long-time members who were able to help us celebrate the AACFB’s 30th Anniversary. We were also thrilled to be able to offer a virtual option to those who wanted to participate but were unable to attend in person. We can’t wait for the 2022 AACFB Annual Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina next May 11-13!”

Cindy Downs President’s Plaque Award

On the right side, Cindy Downs is the Immediate Past President of the AACFB Board of Directors. She works for Heartland Capital Group, LLC and is the Business Marketing Manager for Heartland.

Left side, Carrie Radloff, CLFP is the current AACFB Board President. She works for American Financial Partners as their Business Development Manager.

The conference culminated in the Annual Business Meeting and Auction, where President, Carrie Radloff thanked Immediate Past President, Cindy Downs for her service as president of the AACFB. The presidency transitioned from Cindy Downs to Carrie Radloff in May of 2021. Cindy then honored Past President, Paul Burnham, and Past President, Bud Callahan, for their service on the AACFB Board of Directors. They rotated off the Board in May. Secretary/Treasurer, Roderick Knoll presented an upbeat Treasurer’s Report where he enthusiastically reported that the AACFB is in a positive financial position and has no debt.

President’s Award

Immediate Past President, Cindy Downs also presented the 2021 AACFB President’s Award to Buddy Zarbock with Commercial Funding Partners for his dedication to promoting educational opportunities for AACFB members.

Once the business at hand had concluded, Bobby Cowan with Y.E.S. Leasing took the mic to emcee the prize auction that is quickly becoming a favorite event at the conference. Attendees were able to collect “AACFB Bucks” during the conference for visiting with exhibitors or attending sessions. Bucks could also be purchased, with the proceeds benefiting the AACFB Scholarship Fund. Those in attendance had the opportunity to use their “bucks” to bid on prize packages worth up to $500 donated by AACFB sponsors and exhibitors.

After a busy week of networking and learning, attendees were finally able to kick back and relax at the Happy Hour & a Half hosted at the rooftop lounge at the Grand Hyatt Nashville. Many are already making plans to attend next year’s AACFB events taking place in May and September of 2022.

About American Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (AACFB)
The American Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (AACFB), formerly the NAELB, is the premier trade association empowering independent commercial finance brokers. The AACFB represents the expanding interests of its growing membership by providing best practice education and networking opportunities, while promoting a culture of ethics. For more information visit: www.aacfb.org

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New Hires/Promotions in the Leasing Business
and Related Industries

Timothy Amero, Jr. was hired as Vice Present of Partner Development, CAN Capital, Kennesaw, Georgia. He is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Previously, he was Senior Finance Manager, Director of Sales, Direct Original and Franchise Finance, Marlin Capital Solutions (November, 2016 - June, 2021); Senior Franchise Finance Manager, Direct Capital, a Division of CIT Bank, NA. (December, 2007 - November, 2016).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-amero-jr-71bb0140/

Marina (Marina Coelho) Biro, CPA, was promoted to Vice President and Director of Internal Audit, CSI, St. Louis, Missouri. She joined the firm June, 2016 as Director of Internal Audit.”  Biro will continue to serve as the chief audit executive for CSI’s 26 subsidiaries around the world.”  Previously, she was Audit Manager, Graybar Electric (September, 2011 - June, 2016); Senior Manager, Accounting, Savvis (May, 2009 - October, 2011); Audit Manager, Furniture Brands International (September, 2006 - April, 2009); Top Senior, Deloitte (1999 - 2006). Certifications: CPA, issued June, 2007). Volunteer: Treasurer and Board Member, Viva Brasil Association, St. Louis (July, 2014 - December, 2015).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-biro-5a6124a/

Joe Friedling was hired as Senior Business Development Manager, NewLane Finance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is located in Paso Robles, California. Previously, he was Director of Business Development, NFS Leasing (September,2020 - April, 2021); Regional Sales Manager, Xerox Financial Services (March, 2014 - March, 2020); Vice President, Account Executive, Commerce Bank (December, 2013 -March, 2014); Equipment Finance Broker (September, 2013 -December, 2013); Business Banking Officer, U.S. Bank (July, 2012 -August, 2013), Equipment Finance Professional, PEC USA Inc. (February, 2002 - July, 2012); Graphic Business Development, CitiCapital, formerly Copelco Capital (1999 - 2002). Education: The College of New Jersey fka Trenton State College, BS MET, Mechanical Engineering (1979 – 1983): Activities and Societies: ZBT Fraternity.
www.linkedin.com/in/pecusainc

Gary Gilmore was hired was promoted to Vice President, Small Business Relationship Manager, TD Bank, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He joined TD August, 2019, as Assistant Vice President, Small Business Lending. He is located in Williamstown, New Jersey. Previously, he was Director of Vendor Sales, NewLane Finance Company (September, 2018 - 2019). He joined TD Bank November, 2011, Business Development Specialist, Regional Commercial Bank, promoted February, 2013, Team Lead, Business Development Regional Commercial Banking, promoted May, 2016, Assistant Vice President Regional Commercial Sales and Service, Business Development Group. Regional Manager, Marlin Leasing Corp. (January, 2006 - November, 2011).  Education: Walden University, Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A,) https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-gilmore-b337396b/

Meghan Hawk was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Operations Manager, Global Business Development, CSI, St. Louis, Missouri. She joined the firm June, 2012, as Lease Administrator, promoted Credit Specialist, August, 2015. “Hawk specializes in complex international lease requirements and serves as the central point of contact for account executives and the international operations team for global transactions." Previously, she was Program Director, Midwest
Institute for Neurological Development (May, 2011 - June, 2012); Administrative Director, Mercy Regional Health Center Flint Hills Community Clinic (October, 2006 - April, 2011); Support Services Supervisor, Valley Healthcare (August, 2004 - October, 2006).  Education: Truman State University, BA, Communications (1998 - 2002). Activities and Societies: Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi Sigma. https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghan-hawk-7550bb26/

Christopher Holland was hired as Director, Partner Business Development, CAN Capital, Kennesaw, Georgia. He is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Previously, he was at Marlin Business Services, starting 2015, Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Franchise Finance, promoted 2018, Manager Strategic Partnerships, Finance and Nation Accounts, promoted 2018, Program Manager, Franchise Finance and National Accounts at Marlin  Capital Solutions; Strategic Account Manager, Direct Capital, a division of CIT Bank,, N.A. (October , 2013 - October, 2015); Manager, Product Development, Equipment Engine
Finance Services Company, LLC (December, 2011 - September, 2013); Loan Portfolio Administration, Amvest Capital, LLC (August, 2007 - August, 2009); Equipment Management/Technology Assets, Vantage Point Asset Solutions (June, 2005 - August, 2007); Leasing and Development, Commercial Real Estate Investment and Development (April, 2004 - September, 2005); Feature Film Production, The Walt Disney Company (June, 1995 - March, 2004). Education: University of Virginia, Bachelor of Arts, Foreign Affairs (1987 - 1991). Wakefield School (1981- 1987).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherhollandlinkedin/

Eric McGriff was hired as Senior Vice President, Chief Risk Officer, Wintrust Specialty Finance, Rosemont, Illinois.  He is located in New York City. Previously, he was President and Founder, Pinnacle Advisory Services (January, 2021 - August, 2021); SVP Senior Divisional Officer, TIAA Bank (February, 2010 - December, 2020); Chief Risk Officer, Tygris Vendor Finance (May, 2008 - February, 2010); Chief Risk Officer, US Express Leasing (February, 2006 - May, 2008); Senior Vice President, Key Equipment Finance (February, 2005 - January, 2006); COO, American Express Business Finance (2002 - 2004); President and Founder, Pinnacle Advisory services (2000 - 2002); SVP,, Portfolio Management, CIT Vendor Finance (1999 - 2000); SVP, Operations, Newcourt Credit Group (1998 - 1999); SVP, Credit, Portfolio Quality and Asset Management Officer, AT&T Commercial Finance (1990 - 1992); Credit Officer, AT&T Commercial Finance; Senior Credit Analyst, AT&T Credit (1986 - 1990). Education: Drew University, B A, Political Science and Behavioral Science. Columbia Business School, Institute of Lease
Management. Nutley High. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmcgriff/

Kevin Plummer was hired as OEM Business Development Specialist, FESTO USA, Headquarters, Esslingen, Germany. He is located in Aliso Viejo, California.  Previously, he was Lease Account Executive, TEC Equipment (June, 2020 - September, 2021); National Account Executive, NationaLease (April, 2018 - June, 2020); Territory Manager, Clayton Controls, Inc. (March, 2009 - April, 2018); Key Account Manager, Norgren Global Vehicle Technology, IMI Precision Engineering (July, 2004 - February, 2009); Region Director Business Development West, Dedicated Contract Carriage, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc (June, 2001 - July,2004); National Account Executive, Penske Logistic (April, 1995 - June, 2001); Regional Sales Manager, Carrier TransCold Truck Trailer Refrigeration (January, 1989 - April, 1995); Lease Account Manager, Ryder System Inc. (February, 1984 - January, 1989). Certifications: Certified Transportation Professional (CTP), National Private Truck Council, Issued April, 2002. Executive Certification in Supply Chain Management, Smeal College of Business, Penn State University, Issue February, 1998.  Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (ICGB), Penske Logistics, Issued, 1998).  Education: California State University, Long Beach. Bachelor of Science, Business Administration (B.B.A), Marketing (1978 -1983). Sigma Alpha Epsilon National Fraternity.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-plummer-23507b5a/

Roman Slobodynskyj was hired as to Senior Vice President, Healthcare, Laguna Niguel, California. Previously, he was Head of Healthcare Equipment Finance, First Midwest Bank (December, 2019 - September, 2021). He joined Wells Fargo March, 2009, as Vice President, Healthcare Financial Services, promoted July, 2018 as National Specialty Markets Manager, Healthcare Financial Services. Vice-President, CIT Healthcare, CIT Group, Inc. (July, 2004 - December, 2008).  He joined GE Capital February, 1998 as Regional Sales Manager, GE Capital, February, 1998; promoted January, 2002, Vice President, GE Healthcare Financial Services. Education: UC Irvine, Economics (1990 - 1992). Activities and Societies: Track & Field,  Sigma Chi.  Foothill High School (1986 - 1990). Saint Jeanne De Lestonnac School (1977 - 1986).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roman-slobodynskyj-00368a2/

Melissa (Sovine) Tomaszewski was hired as Director of Sales and Marketing, First Option Capital, Irvine, California. She is located in the Nashville Metropolitan Area. Previously, she was Vice President of Sales, Varys LLC (May, 2020 - Present); Managing Director, In Need of Assistants, LLC (December, 2019 - May, 2020); COO/Regional Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, Wholesale Digital Signs (March, 2020 - March, 2021); Senior National Manager, Koala Capital Group, LLC (June, 2019 - December, 2019); Account Executive, AsSys Group (September, 2018 - February, 2019); Vice President, Sales,
Ascentium Capital (January, 2017 - December, 2017). She joined Dell EMC February, 2009, as Account Service Representative, promoted September, 2010, Account Manager, Dell Financial Services, promoted May, 2012, Channel Account Manager, promotes May, 2014, Senior Account Manager. Senior Sales Executive, Schneider Electric (February, 2004 - October, 2007); St. Account Manager, Marketing/Training, Start-Up, Commercial Leasing Division, American Standard APAC (April 1997), promoted 2000, Sr. Account Manager, Marketing, Training Start-Up, Commercial Leasing Division. Executive Assistant, Phoenix Mutual (January, 1993 - December, 1996). Volunteer: Lifehouse Animal Refuge and Rehabilitation (January, 2013 - Present). Member, National Association of Professional Women (NAPW) (January, 2017 - Present.  Education: Austin Peay State University. Nashville Technical State College. https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissat123/

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Help Wanted Ads

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New Rules on Oct. 1 for NMLS Transition
and PACE Program Administrators under California Finance Law

Effective Oct. 1, 2021, new regulations under the California Finance Law take effect. In general, the regulations provide as follows:

• All new license applications under the California Financing Law must be submitted through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry (NMLS) on and after Oct. 1, 2021.
• All licensees not yet on NMLS must transition onto NMLS by Dec. 31, 2021.
• PACE program administrators must comply with new regulatory provisions.

The text of the regulations and the final statement of reasons may be found through the following links:

PRO 02/17 - Text of Final Rules (PDF)  (157 pages)
https://dfpi.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/337/2021/08/PRO-02-17-Final-Text-of-Rules.pdf

PRO 02/17 - Final Statement of Reasons (PDF)  (353 pages)
https://dfpi.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/337/2021/08/PRO-02-17-Final-Statement-of-Reasons.pdf

For new applicants applying for a license through NMLS and licensees transitioning to NMLS, begin by selecting "Getting Started" from the NMLS Resource Center page. NMLS has state-specific checklists to assist new applicants and licensees transitioning onto NMLS, and FAQs for guidance on transitioning a license onto NMLS.

Questions may be directed to CFL.Inquiries@dfpi.ca.gov or (866) 275-2677.

ELFF Confidence Drops Second Month in a Row
Drops to 60.5 from 66.6

(ELFF Chart)

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) releases the September 2021 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry reports, "The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) releases the September 2021 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry,"

Bruce J. Winter, President, FSG Capital, Inc
“The delta variant is causing some slowdown in certain sectors which will delay but not derail the recovery of these industries. Other sectors that have seen strong demand but were unable to fulfill all orders due to severe labor shortages are optimistic more workers will return now that the federal unemployment bonus has expired. We expect a robust fourth quarter and are optimistic the momentum will continue into early next year. Future inflation remains the great unknown, and the outcome of the proposed $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill will be a key determinate in whether we experience only short-term inflation or several years of inflation well above the Fed’s target rate.”

Michael Romanowski, President, Farm Credit Leasing
“There is great interest in capital expansion in the industries we serve. Supply chain issues continue to delay equipment and the completion of projects. We will see this continue into next year and it will have an impact on when transactions end up on the books.”

Dave Fate, Chief Executive Officer, Stonebriar Commercial Finance
“We always believe that secured equipment loans and leases will outperform all other asset classes; however, the last few months have created some concern among our customers. The shortage of labor, skilled or otherwise, has become problematic. Uncertainty with prospective polices coming out of Washington that could increase costs of doing business has slowed decision making ahead of any conclusion. Persistence of COVID variants and potentially renewed mandates and restrictions create even more uncertainty. While we try our best not to worry about what we cannot control, this environment feels unprecedented. Until we have clarity on a number of these concerns, we think the rest of this year and into 2022 will be somewhat choppy.”

Full Report:
https://www.leasefoundation.org/industry-resources/monthly-confidence-index/

 

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When Apple unveiled its latest line of smartphones at a virtual event last week, not only did the company introduce more models than ever before at a single event, namely four, but it also kept more of the older models around than many had anticipated. Apart from the iPhone 11, which was expected to remain available as an entry-level model, Apple also extended the shelf life of the 2018 iPhone XR, which remains on sale as an alternative to the iPhone SE.

For many years, Apple had been criticized for catering exclusively to the high-end market, a strategy that made it extremely difficult for the company to gain traction in emerging markets. In light of slowing smartphone sales in mature markets, Apple has lately adjusted its strategy towards offering a more complete range of phones. Keeping previous years’ models around for a reduced price has become the company’s primary strategy of attracting cost-conscious buyers, with the iPhone SE the only notable exception.

By Felix Richter, Statista

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Aramsco Sells 100% Parent Company Stock Aztec Financial
to North Mill Equipment Finance and Taycor Financial

NORWALK, CT – North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC (“North Mill”), a leading commercial equipment lessor located in Norwalk, Connecticut, and TF Group, Inc., (“Taycor Financial”), a preeminent, technology-driven finance provider in El Segundo, California, announced today the acquisition of 100% of the stock of the parent company of Aztec Financial, LLC (“Aztec”) from an affiliate of Aramsco, Inc. (“Aramsco”). 

Aztec is an equipment finance company offering specialty contractors access to competitively priced leases and loans, and Aramsco is the largest supplier of equipment, chemicals, and consumables to specialty contractors across the US and Canada.  North Mill will assume the existing portfolio of Aztec’s leases and servicing capabilities while Taycor will assume the vendor relationships and origination capabilities from Aztec’s long standing, leading market position in the restoration, professional cleaning, and surface preparation industries. All existing employees of Aztec will either join North Mill or Taycor.

John Sirrine, Founder and CEO, Aztec, said, “We are beyond excited to be part of Taycor and North Mill.  The partnership will allow Aztec to offer a broader array of financing products to meet the needs of our valued vendor and customer relationships.

 “In addition, we are thrilled to now have available a world-class technology platform that will enhance our vendors’ ability to reach an increasingly mobile customer base.  New products and enhanced technology will propel Aztec to the next level and continue to position us as a market leader in the industries that we serve.”

Michael Hong, CEO, Taycor, commented, “We welcome Aztec with open arms into the Taycor family. Amazing things happen when great organizations join forces. The combination of Aztec and Taycor will supercharge access to capital for end-user customers and borrowers, enabling us to dramatically expand our exclusive financing partnership with Aramsco, distributors, and franchise partners alike.  By uniting Aztec’s streamlined approach with Taycor’s expanded range of financial products and proprietary technology stack -- designed to enhance human interaction and transparency -- we will deliver a smoother, faster finance experience with a lot more approvals and transactions.”

David C. Lee, Chairman and CEO, North Mill, declared, “We are thrilled to bring onto the North Mill team a talented group of professionals with deep experience in servicing a large portfolio of small ticket leases in these specialized professional services industries.

“In keeping with our strategy of being 100% referral partner centric, we are delighted to partner with Taycor to independently take Aztec to the next level of origination capabilities.”

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a Stifel Company (NYSE: SF), acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Aztec Financial, LLC in connection with the transaction.

About North Mill Equipment Finance

North Mill Equipment Finance, a Monitor 100 company, originates and services small to mid-ticket equipment leases and loans, ranging from $15,000 to $1,000,000 in value.   A broker-centric private lender, the company handles A – C credit qualities and finances transactions for a large number of asset categories including construction, transportation, vocational, medical, manufacturing, printing, franchise, and material handling equipment. North Mill is majority owned by an affiliate of WAFRA Capital Partners, Inc. (WCP).  The company’s headquarters is in Norwalk, CT, with regional offices in Irvine, CA, Dover, NH, Voorhees NJ, and Murray, UT. For more information, visit www.nmef.com.

About Taycor Financial

Taycor Financial is one of the premier commercial financing & technology companies in the U.S., with offices in Los Angeles, CA; Orange County, CA; San Jose, CA; and Scottsdale, AZ.  Taycor’s digital financing solutions are deployed to thousands of US and Canadian dealers, auction houses, OEMS and equipment-eCommerce platforms representing over $100 Billion of total retail value each year.  Taycor is a hybrid-lender with a strong balance sheet and industry leading syndication partners, offering cross-industry finance solutions that support businesses of all sizes and credit profiles. For more information on commercial finance or leasing, to get an Instant Quote, or explore career opportunities, visit: www.Taycor.com or call (800) 322-9738. 

About Aramsco

For over 50 years, Aramsco and its family of companies have been serving the needs of specialty contractors and other customers in diverse commercial markets in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The Aramsco family of companies, which include Interlink Supply and Safety Express, share a common vision of providing exceptional services to customers that enable them to succeed. Visit www.aramsco.com for more information on Aramsco.

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KWIPPED’s equipment and financing solution helps Clean Eatz
Kitchen connect more people with affordable healthy meals

Wilmington, NC — KWIPPED Inc. has launched a partnership with Clean Eatz Kitchen that will enable gyms, convenience stores and other businesses to easily access affordable financing for refrigeration equipment needed to bring Clean Eatz’ healthy prepared meals to a growing number of consumers, including many in areas that are underserved by affordable healthy food options. 

Jason Nista, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Eatz Kitchen, said finding financing for the commercial freezers needed to keep the company’s cooked-from-scratch meals on-site for pickup had been a major hurdle to expanding distribution of the meals.  

He found a solution in KWIPPED Inc., which runs an online B2B equipment marketplace and optimizes equipment financing by utilizing a network of the nation’s top equipment finance companies. Clean Eatz Kitchen is now able to send potential partners to a dedicated landing page that carries the refrigerator models recommended for the meal distribution program. Finance applications are algorithmically matched with the finance companies most likely to approve the application and offer the lowest finance rates. Participating distributors may receive multiple offers from up to three competing lenders. KWIPPED supports applications through the process, so customers know their information is secure, and that they will not be bombarded with calls and emails from potential lenders. 

“Having access to KWIPPED’s financing solution makes it easier for businesses to sell our meals, which can play an important role in their customers’ health goals,” Nista said. “Our goal is for price to no longer be an obstacle to healthy eating.” 

Clean Eatz meals are comparable to fast food in price point, but unlike most fast food they are all less than 600 calories and offer a healthy balance of fats, carbohydrates and protein.

KWIPPED founder and CEO Robert Preville, said. “We are excited to help a fellow entrepreneur business expand its reach in a way that will help small businesses add to their product offerings, and that will bring affordable, healthy food to a larger population.

About KWIPPED
KWIPPED Inc. is a technology company specializing in B2B equipment e-commerce that developed and maintains a unique online B2B equipment marketplace where equipment suppliers and lenders compete to serve the needs of equipment buyers. KWIPPED’s worldwide headquarters is located in Wilmington, NC.

About Clean Eatz
Clean Eatz Kitchen, headquartered in Wilmington, NC, is a market-leader in ready-to-eat meal plans sold DTC and through traditional brick and mortar. Clean Eatz meals focus on a healthy balance of fats, carbs and protein at a price point everyone can afford. 

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Odessa announces investment from
Thomas H. Lee Partners to accelerate growth

The strategic investment will support growth in the U.S. and international markets, expanding Odessa’s platform offering across financial services

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,– Odessa, the global leader in asset finance software, announces an investment from Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”), a premier private equity firm that invests in growth companies.

Odessa’s architecture and design approach set it apart from existing equipment leasing and auto finance technologies by unifying silted business teams and stakeholders to create a single system of insights, orchestration, and extensibility. This enables asset finance organizations to remain nimble and innovative in how they go to market, manage operations, and deliver customer value. Odessa customers realize significant value, including streamlined business operations, significant increases in deal velocity, data-based business decisioning, and omnichannel customer service.

“As the leader in asset finance technology, Odessa is ideally positioned to drive further customer-focused innovation and to unlock additional market opportunities,” said Ganesh Rao, Managing Director and Head of Financial Services at THL and Mark Bean, Director at THL. “We are confident that they have the vision and track record to disrupt and define the future of financial services technology, and we are excited to partner with them to support this growth trajectory.”

Madhu Natarajan, Co-Founder + CEO of Odessa, said, “We are grateful for the support of our employees that has fueled our success for more than two decades, and we are humbled by the confidence our customers and investors have in Odessa – but our vision goes further still.

 “There is an enormous opportunity to reimagine the way asset finance companies scale and adapt to disrupting market forces and changing consumer demand. We have the platform, technology, team, and investment partner to be the operating system that powers the modern enterprise.”

In the last year alone, Odessa has been Great Place to Work certified; named to the Inc. 5000 List for the second year in a row; named a leader in technology work culture as the Timmy Award winner for Philadelphia; and named a leader on the Most Innovative Companies list by Monitor Daily.

The investment seeks to catalyze Odessa’s growth initiatives and further accelerate the company’s platform roadmap and geographic expansion, including through M&A opportunities. To learn more about Odessa’s vision for the future of technology for financial services, read Madhu’s blog.

Houlihan Lokey served as M&A advisor to Odessa, with O’Melveny & Myers serving as its legal counsel and KPMG serving as financial advisor. Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor to THL, with Raymond James serving as its financial advisor and Oliver Wyman serving as commercial advisor.

About Odessa

Odessa is a software company exclusively focused in the leasing industry, and the developers of the Odessa Platform. Headquartered in Philadelphia, USA, Odessa’s leasing solutions and workforce of 1000+ power a diverse customer base of asset finance companies globally. Odessa provides a powerful, end-to-end, extensible solution for lease and loan origination and portfolio management. The Odessa Platform further provides rich feature sets including low-code development, test automation, reporting and business intelligence to ensure organizations can more effectively align business and IT objectives.
www.odessatech.com

About THL

Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”) is a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies exclusively in three sectors: Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. THL couples deep sector expertise with dedicated internal operating resources to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. The Firm’s domain expertise and resources help to build great companies with an aim to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $30 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. THL invests in automation companies through its flagship private equity fund and a dedicated automation fund.
https://thl.com/

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Small business owners should see
if they qualify for the home office deduction

Many Americans have been working from home due to the pandemic, but only certain people will qualify to claim the home office deduction. This deduction allows qualifying taxpayers to deduct certain home expenses on their tax return when they file their 2021 tax return next year.

Here are some things to help taxpayers understand the home office deduction and whether they can claim it:

• Employees are not eligible to claim the home office deduction.
• The home office deduction, reported on Form 8829, is available to both homeowners and renters. 
• There are certain expenses taxpayers can deduct. They include mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, repairs, maintenance, depreciation and rent. 
• Taxpayers must meet specific requirements to claim home expenses as a deduction. Even then, the deductible amount of these types of expenses may be limited. 
• The term "home" for purposes of this deduction: 
• Includes a house, apartment, condominium, mobile home, boat or similar property which provides basic living accommodations.
• A separate structure on the property such as an unattached garage, studio, barn or greenhouse.
• Any portion of a home used exclusively as a hotel, motel, inn or similar establishment does NOT qualify as a “home” and, therefore, does not qualify for a home office deduction.

Generally, there are two basic requirements for the taxpayer's home to qualify as a deduction: 

• There must be exclusive use of a portion of the home for conducting business on a regular basis. For example, a taxpayer who uses an extra room to run their business can take a home office deduction only for that extra room so long as it is used both regularly and exclusively in the business.
• The home must be the taxpayer's principal place of business. A taxpayer can also meet this requirement if administrative or management activities are conducted at the home and there is no other location to perform these duties. Therefore, someone who conducts business outside of their home but also uses their home to conduct business may still qualify for a home office deduction.
• A portion of a home that is used exclusively for conducting business on a regular basis but not used as the principal place of business, will qualify for a home office deduction if either patients, clients or customers are met in the home or there is a separate structure that is used exclusively for conducting business on a regular basis. 
•  

    Taxpayers who qualify may choose one of two methods to calculate their home office expense deduction: 

• Using the simplified method consisting of a rate of $5 per square foot for business use of the home which is limited to a maximum size of 300 square feet and a maximum deduction $1,500.
• Using the regular method whereby deductions for a home office are based on the percentage of the home devoted to business use. Any use a whole room or part of a room for conducting their business will involve figuring out the percentage of the home used for business activities to deduct indirect expenses. Direct expenses are deducted in full.

More information:
Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home, Including Use by Daycare Providers
https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-587

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Watch at Home:
Fernando's Reviews

A whirlwind of charisma, exuberance, and offbeat sexiness, Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933-2021) straddled art-house and popular cinema in his native France, becoming a symbol of Sixties cool. So check out our list for some of his best roles.

Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960): Often considered by critics to be a turning point for modern cinema, 1960 marked the debut of revolutionary director Jean-Luc Godard, whose popular, immensely influential drama made Belmondo an overnight sensation. Belmondo plays Michel, a petty Parisian hood who fancies himself to be the spiritual successor of classic tough-guy Humphrey Bogart. After he impulsively steals a car and shoots a policeman, Michel hides out with his American girlfriend, a young journalist named Patricia (Jean Seberg). He plans to collect money so the couple can escape to Italy, but soon enough the Hollywood thriller he imagines himself in collides with reality. An enduring staple of the French New Wave, Godard’s film is hip, sexy, and cinematically groundbreaking, with Belmondo becoming a continental art-house icon. With subtitles.

Le Doulos (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1962): The kingpin of existential French film-noir, Jean-Pierre Melville created his own world of shadowy characters in fedoras and trench coats, indebted to American cinema but also unmistakably his own. In this, one of his signature films, he weaves a web of betrayal and brutality so dense that the story attains a dreamlike surrealism. Maurice (Serge Reggiani) is a burglar who, just out of prison, becomes involved with underworld figures and stolen loot. His solitary contact is his friend Silien (Belmondo), who provides him with equipment for a new robbery. With the police getting closer and closer, however, Maurice becomes suspicious that Silien may be the worst possible thing—an informer. Impeccably stylized, Melville’s film cemented Belmondo’s status as an emblem of outlaw cool. With subtitles.

That Man from Rio (Philippe de Broca, 1964): In addition to being an art-house staple, Belmondo was also famous for his many introverted action-comedy roles, which made him a forerunner to Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chang. Arguably the best of his daredevil movies was this hugely enjoyable spy spoof, which bounces exuberantly from France to Brazil. Belmondo plays Adrien, a military airman who, in the middle of his furlough in Paris, becomes involved with his girlfriend Agnes (Françoise Dorléac) in international intrigue. In search of a kidnapped professor (Jean Servais), Adrien and Agnes find themselves in the Amazon jungle, escaping tribesmen while looking for priceless treasures. A marked influence on the Indiana Jones films, this is a stylish pastiche that delights in the star’s breezy athleticism. With subtitles.

Pierrot le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965): Belmondo reunites with his “Breathless” director, Jean-Luc Godard, for this dazzling mix of political and cinematic experiments, which reimagines Lionel White’s American crime novel in French settings. Ferdinand (Belmondo) works at a TV broadcasting company and has a bourgeois family, all of which seems to suffocate him. Yearning for freedom and a new start, he takes off with ex-girlfriend Marianne (Anna Karina). As they embark on a crime spree across the countryside, they find themselves at odds with the police and gangsters—as well as with each other, as they seek refuge in a small Mediterranean island. As challenging as it is engaging, full of poetic fancies and beguiling melancholia, this is one of Godard’s ravishing and inventive works. With subtitles.

Mississippi Mermaid (François Truffaut, 1969): Teaming up with another guiding light of the French New Wave, Belmondo stars in this moody, underrated romantic drama from François Truffaut (“The 400 Blows”). He plays Louis, a wealthy but lonely plantation owner who decides to marry a mail-order bride named Julie. Though the gorgeous blonde (Catherine Deneuve) who steps off the ship looks nothing like the picture Louis was sent, the wedding goes on as planned. Their happiness together crumbles, however, when Julie absconds with her husband’s money, leading him on a quest that begins with revenge and ends in obsessive love. Something of a Hitchcockian mystery shot with an ardent belief in humanism and redemption, the film is greatly helped by the spell cast by Belmondo and Deneuve. With subtitles.

Labrador Retriever Mix
Chicago, Illinois Adopt-a-Dog

Rhea

Female
Age: 8 months
37 lbs.
Location:
Lincoln Park Adoption Center

Rhea is an Underdog who with extra help can blossom into a Wonderdog. She won’t fit with every home, so consider your lifestyle and ComPETibility score carefully before falling in love.

This sweet and loveable pup will do anything for a belly rub. She’ll roll over on her back to show you her 3 white socks (paws) and look at you with those big puppy dog eyes making it difficult to resist rubbing her belly. Some of Rhea’s favorite activities include chasing ice cubes, playing fetch, finding hidden treats, tug of war, and taking walks to the dog park where she can socialize with other dogs in the neighborhood. She loves grassy areas and is always on the lookout for a good stick to chew on, usually one that’s way too big for her.

Rhea will love a home where she can have all your attention to herself and enjoy the company of friends/family on the weekends. She sleeps in her crate at night and can usually be trusted when left alone for a short period of time. Make sure she has enough super-chewer toys to keep her busy while you are busy.

For our Underdogs (dogs with the Underdog banner on their profile), adoption fees will be waived from Monday August 23rd through Sunday September 19th.

Please note that the $100 refundable training deposit is applicable to these dogs and is due at the time of adoption.
$350 Adoption Fee + $100 PAWS Training Deposit ($450 total)

If you’re interested in adopting this pet, there are few steps you must complete before scheduling an appointment at our Lincoln Park Adoption Center:

1.   Please start by taking our ComPETibility Quiz to make sure they’re a good fit for your home. Your ComPETibility Score will help you compare your home to their needs! https://www.pawschicago.org/our-work/pet-adoption/adoption-process/

2.   After completing your ComPETibility Quiz, you will be emailed a link to complete your Adoption Application.

3.   Finally, complete our Foster Pet Adoption Inquiry Form! Once this form is submitted, our Adoption Team will take a look at your adoption inquiry and, if they have next steps, reach out within a few days.

Please note that while we can’t place holds on adoptable animals for your scheduled appointment, there are always plenty of homeless pets looking for a home! If you don’t meet the perfect pet, please feel free to complete a new Foster Pet Adoption

Dog Adoption Benefits
Spay/neuter surgery
All age-appropriate vaccinations
Microchip
Leash and collar
Starter bag of Merrick-brand pet food
VCA Healthy Start Certificate, giving you a free visit with a veterinarian within 14 days of adoption and covering the cost of illness in the first two weeks of adoption (up to $500)
Support throughout your pet's lifetime
The PAWS Chicago Lifetime Guarantee, if something happens to you or you can no longer care for your pet

PAWS Chicago
1997 N Clybourn Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614
(773) 935-7297
https://www.pawschicago.org/
Hours:
Thursday    12–7PM
Friday         12–7PM
Saturday    11AM–5PM
Sunday       11AM–5PM
Monday      12–7PM
Tuesday      12–7PM
Wednesday 12–7PM

[headlines]
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NEFA Funding Symposium Taking Safety Seriously!
October 13-15, 2021 | The Westin, Charlotte NC

"The National Equipment Finance Association Leadership is excited to see you at the October 13-15 Funding Symposium in Charlotte, NC. The conference planning committee has organized a great conference with featured keynote speakers, industry practical application sessions, and phenomenal networking.

"We understand you’ve been through a lot, over the past year and a half, and we are taking measures to ensure the conference is safe for attendees.

The Following Safety Measures Will Be In Place:

• Comfort Bracelets – attendees may choose a bracelet that provides their comfort level when interacting with other attendees

• Hand Sanitizer available throughout conference site

• Face masks available upon request

• Connect Through Our Conference App.:

"The Conference Mobile App will be made available to all registered attendees, featuring the agenda, event materials, access to practical application sessions, and endless opportunities to connect virtually with exhibitors and attendees.

"To further support attendees and reduce the spread of COVID-19, NEFA is offering a registration credit for any attendee that wishes to cancel due to an illness or company travel restrictions. A credit will be provided for a future NEFA event.

Sincerely,
Chad Sluss
NEFA CEO

Registration:
https://web.cvent.com/event/096ff210-f46e-4488-b91d-ddd3e2231aa4/regProcessStep1:a1208612-b9a4-4f7a-81bc-98cb43c1109a
Hotel ($219 per night special discount)
https://web.cvent.com/event/096ff210-f46e-4488-b91d-ddd3e2231aa4/websitePage:6372c50c-1b4f-4665-b566-04d3ab93e439

News Briefs---

COVID costing Chicago hotels $2.2 billion this year
   Heading into Winter at a disadvantage to warm climate rivals
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg-hinz-politics/covid-business-travel-drop-costs-chicago-hotels-22-billion-2021

Sears is shutting its last store in Illinois,
    its home state
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/16/sears-is-shutting-its-last-store-in-illinois-its-home-state.html

A wave of e-commerce logistics startups
    is threatening to break the UPS and FedEx duopoly
https://www.businessinsider.com/e-commerce-logistics-startups-threatening-ups-fedex-duopoly-2021-9

Ford adds jobs to increase production of electric
     F-150 pickup; reservations top 150,000
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/16/ford-adds-jobs-to-increase-production-of-electric-f-150-pickup-reservations-top-150000-.html

Southwest Airlines adding 9 new nonstop flights
     from Austin airport
https://www.kvue.com/article/travel/southwest-austin-airport-nonstop-flights/269-ace9b3b0-ea7f-409e-8739-b306b6fd265d

[headlines]
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You May Have Missed---

The World’s Top 50 Luxury Brands Lost $7.6 Billion
     in Value This Year, a New Report Says
https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/finance/top-50-luxury-brands-lose-7-6-billion-value-report-1234635879/

[headlines]
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Sports Briefs---

Bleacher Report's Expert Week 2 NFL Picks
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2948473-bleacher-reports-expert-week-2-nfl-picks

49ers lose Dre Greenlaw for up to 8 weeks
https://49ers.pressdemocrat.com/49ers-lose-dre-greenlaw-for-up-to-8-weeks/

One reason Mac Jones looked so calm
   in his NFL debut: His breathing technique
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/09/16/sports/one-reason-mac-jones-looked-so-calm-his-nfl-debut-his-breathing-technique/

USA TODAY Sports' Week 2 NFL picks: Cowboys-Chargers
    one of few games garnering split opinion
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl-picks/2021/09/16/nfl-week-2-picks-predictions-cowboys-chargers/8359546002/

US Soccer says it has offered men,
    women identical contracts
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/sports/us-soccer-says-it-has-offered-men-women-identical-contracts/

[headlines]
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California Nuts Briefs---

‘Science was on the ballot.’ Gavin Newsom says
    recall proved voters back his COVID approach
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article254273668.html?ac_cid=DM531822&ac_bid=1776215624

L.A. County plans to require proof of vaccination
    at indoor bars, nightclubs, breweries, wineries
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-15/la-to-require-covid-19-vaccines-at-bars-nightclubs-breweries-wineries?utm_id=37709&sfmc_id=1646692

Marin County prepares to start vaccinating
     children 5 to 11 against COVID-19
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/marin-county-prepares-to-start-vaccinating-children-5-to-11-against-covid-1/

Koi Indian tribe unveils plans for
     $600 million casino resort in Sonoma County       
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/north-bay/koi-indian-tribe-unveils-plans-for-600-million-casino-resort-in-sonoma-cou/

Downtown San Jose office campus featuring
    two towers OK’d along Guadalupe River
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/15/massive-office-campus-okd-along-downtown-san-joses-guadalupe-river-despite-environmental-concerns/

Santa Clara County approves affordable housing
    for ag workers
https://sanjosespotlight.com/santa-clara-county-ag-housing-farmworkers-farming-morgan-hill/
 
Palo Alto business owners, residents reeling
    fter council decision to reopen closed streets
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/16/palo-alto-business-owners-residents-reeling-after-council-decision-to-reopen-closed-streets/

[headlines]
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“Gimme that Wine”

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

Love Wine? Here Are 10 Ways to Appreciate It Even More.
  By Eric Asimov
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/dining/drinks/wine-guide.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Food

This luxury Healdsburg winery is on aggressive
    expansion push with latest acquisition
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/A-luxury-Healdsburg-winery-bought-this-16461247.php

San Francisco Bay Area winemakers are feeling climate
     change more acutely than ever this harvest season
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/With-wine-harvest-underway-vintners-feel-effects-16461837.php

Global Market Report
https://indd.adobe.com/view/bc5dbef2-f82a-4d64-8468-1073b1a1014d

Asian tycoon’s collection second highest estimated
    single-owner wine sale valued at US$11.4 million dollars
https://en.thevalue.com/articles/pierre-chen-wine-collection-sothebys-hk

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

     1630 - City of Boston forms across the Charles River.  William Blackstone, a former clergyman, was living an isolated existence as a trapper on the Shawmut Peninsula, the original land mass of Boston. Word came to him from Indian friends of the difficulties his fellow countrymen were having. He sent a message to John Winthrop advising him that the Trimountaine Hills on his side of the river were far more suitable for settlement. Winthrop, who had been at college with Blackstone (as unbelievable as that sounds), went to see him. Within the next few weeks, several small wooden houses were built by the migrants and at the suggestion of Thomas Dudley, it was decided that the new settlement be called Boston after its English namesake. Remember, the Puritans did not want a break with England, just to create an example of what could be if England followed their example. Hence, they'd fashion their Boston in their own image, so to speak. Over the next few years, many more Lincolnshire migrants arrived. Indeed, a memorial stone in St. Botolph's Church commemorates the five Boston men who became Governors of Massachusetts, those being Thomas Dudley, Richard Bellingham, Francis Bernard, John Leverett and Simon Bradstreet.
    1656 - Massachusetts enacted severe laws against Quakers. (At the time, government and religion were intricately interwoven; the line between blasphemy and treason was virtually nonexistent; and non-sacramental Quakerism gave the impression that the denomination was anti-government.)
    1717 - The first synod of the Presbyterian Church in America met in Philadelphia.
    1730 - Birthday of Baron Frederich Von Steuben (d. 1794), Prussian-born general who volunteered to serve in the American Revolution. His strategy and help in training troops dramatically change the tide of the Revolutionary War.
    1775 – During the American Revolution, the invasion of Canada begins with the Siege of Ft. St. Jean in Quebec.
    1776 - Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) forms as a Spanish fort in what was then New Spain.  It passed to Mexico, which in turn passed it to the United States in 1848. As part of a 1989 military reduction program under the Base Realignment and Closure process, Congress voted to end the Presidio's status as an active military installation of the US Army. On October 1, 1994, it was transferred to the National Park Service, ending 219 years of military use and beginning its next phase of mixed commercial and public use.
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/
http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/sfh2.html
    1778 - The US signed a treaty with the Delaware Nation, the first treaty with Native American tribes, at Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh).
    1787 - Delegations from 12 states (Rhode Island did not send a delegate) at the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, PA, voted unanimously to approve the proposed document and adopt the US Constitution. Thirty-nine of the 42 delegates present signed it and the Convention adjourned after drafting a letter of transmittal to the Congress. One of the main proponents was Article 6, Section 3: 'No religious tests shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.' The proposed constitution stipulated that it would take effect when ratified by nine states. This took place on June 21, 1788, when the legislature of New Hampshire approved ratification by a 57-47 vote. The Constitution was declared to be in effect on March 4, 1789, although North Carolina and Rhode Island ratified by May, 1790.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep17.html
    1814 – Francis Scott Key finishes his poem, “Defence of Fort McHenry.”  Later, these lyrics would become “The Star Spangled Banner” and the National Anthem of the US in 1931.
    1819 - First whaling ship arrives in Hawaii
    1849 – Harriett Tubman escapes from slavery.  Born into slavery, Tubman subsequently made about thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on the US arsenal at Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women’s suffrage.
    1850 - In San Francisco, the Fourth Great Fire destroyed 150 buildings in the area bounded by Dupont, Montgomery, Washington and Pacific streets. Loss set at $500,000. The fire broke out in the Philadelphia House on the north side of Jackson between Grant and Kearny. The San Francisco, Empire and Protection fire companies fought the blaze but had no water.
    1854 – Birthday of David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American businessman, who founded Buick Motor Company (d. 1929).
    1859 - Joshua A. Norton, who lost his money in an attempt to corner the rice market, today declares himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of San Francisco. “At the pre-emptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last nine years and ten months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself the Emperor of These United States, Joshua A. Norton.”
    1861 - American Missionary Association school is established in Fortress Monroe, VA, aiming to bring about full and equal privileges of citizenship to the black population of the United States during the latter half of the 19th century, leading into the 20th century. The Association did so under the doctrine that to deny these rights would serve to subvert the teachings of Jesus, thus those who attempted to deny these rights performed sins against God and man. Formed as a means of protest against other missionaries during the mid-19th century, the AMA promoted political activity and encouraged a strong anti-slavery sentiment among its missions.
http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/american_missionary_assn.html
    1862 - This date has been called America’s bloodiest day in recognition of the high casualties suffered in the Civil War battle between General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces and General George McClellan’s Union army. Estimates vary, but more than 25,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded in this Battle of Antietam on the banks of the Potomac River at Maryland. This had started as a plan to take Harper’s Ferry, move into the North, perhaps capture Washington, DC, or at worse, a propaganda victory for those who were against continuing the war against the Confederates. The plan was discovered on September 12, and General McClellan moved quickly and decisively to change the course of history.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/sep17.html
http://www.nps.gov/anti/battle.htm
http://www.nps.gov/anti/casualty.htm
    1862 – Coincidence?  The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the Civil War.  Established in 1814 on 30 acres bordering the Allegheny River in Lawrenceville near Pittsburgh, it was an important supply and manufacturing center for the Union Army.
    1862 - Sgt. William McKinley and a single volunteer drove a wagon of hot coffee and warm food through Confederate fire at Antietam to the men of the 23rd Ohio regiment. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes promoted him to lieutenant for his bravery and initiative.
    1868 - Hampton Institute founded at Hampton, Va., as a coeducational normal and agricultural school.  Chartered 1870; known as Hampton Institute 1930-84. Founded by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, it was among the first black colleges and also pioneered in Native American education. Hampton's library is noted for its Peabody Collection on African-American history and culture.
    1868 - Early in the morning, a large band of Cheyenne and Sioux stage a surprise attack on Major George A. Forsyth and a volunteer force of 50 frontiersmen in Colorado. Retreating to a small sandbar in the Arikaree River that thereafter became known as Beecher's Island, Forsyth and his men succeeded in repulsing three massed Indian charges. Thanks to the rapid fire capability of their seven-shot Spencer rifles, Forsyth's volunteers were able to kill or wound many of the Indian attackers, including the war chief Roman Nose. But as evening came and the fighting temporarily halted, Forsyth found he had 22 men either dead or wounded, and he estimated the survivors were surrounded by a force of 600 Indians. The whites faced certain annihilation unless they could somehow bring help. Two men, Jack Stilwell and Pierre Trudeau, volunteered to attempt a daring escape through the Indian lines and silently melted into the night.
The battle raged for five more days. Forsyth's effective fighting force was reduced to ten men before the Indians finally withdrew, perhaps reasoning that they had inflicted enough damage. Miles from help and lacking wagons and horses, Forsyth knew that many of his wounded would soon be dead if they didn't get help. Fortunately, on September 25, the 10th Cavalry, one of the Army's two African-American units nicknamed the "Buffalo Soldiers", rode to their rescue with a field ambulance and medical supplies. Miraculously, Stilwell and Trudeau had managed to make it through the Sioux and Cheyenne and bring help. Thanks to their bravery and the timely arrival of the Buffalo Soldiers, the lives of many men were saved.
http://www.buffalosoldiers.net/
    1872 - Phillip W. Pratt of Abington, MA was granted a patent for a sprinkler system. The system operated by means of a valve to which cords and fuses melted, the valve opened, releasing a stream of water. In 1874, Henry S. Parmelee of New Haven refined the sprinkler head with perforations, containing a valve that was held closed against water pressure by a heavy spring made of low fusing material.
    1873 - 19 students attend opening class at The Ohio State University.           
    1879 – Birthday of Andrew “Rube” Foster (d. 1930), baseball player, manager, and pioneer executive in the Negro Leagues, at Calvert, TX. Foster, considered by historians to have been perhaps the best African-American pitcher of the first decade of the 1900s, also founded and managed the Chicago American Giants, one of the most successful black baseball teams of the pre-integration era. Most notably, he organized the Negro National League, the first long-lasting professional league for Negro ballplayers, which operated from 1920 to 1931. He is known as the "Father of Black Baseball” and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
    1895 - Birthday of drummer and bandleader William McKinney (d. 1969), Cynthiana, KY
    1883 – Poet William Carlos Williams (d. 1963) born Rutherford, New Jersey.
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/s_z/williams/bio.htm
    1900 - Anthracite coal miners go out on strike for better wages until  October 25, by which time the owners are persuaded that their stand is harming President McKinley's campaign
    1900 – Birthday of J. Willard Marriott (d. 1985) at Marriott Settlement, UT.  The Marriott Company rose from a small root beer stand known as Hot Shoppes in Washington, DC in 1927 to a chain of family restaurants by 1932, to its first motel in 1957. By the time he died in 1985, the Marriott Company operated 1,400 restaurants and 143 hotels and resorts worldwide, including two theme parks, earned $4.5 billion in revenue annually with 154,600 employees. Although now a public company, the Marriott family is the largest shareholder and has succeeded in retaining key executive positions, including CEO, since.
    1904 – Birthday of Gerardo Luigi "Jerry" Colonna (d. 1995) in Boston.  He was an Italian-American comedian, singer, songwriter, and trombonist best remembered as the zaniest of Bob Hope’s sidekicks in Hope's popular radio shows and films of the 1940s and 1950s.  Known for his pop-eyed facial expressions and walrus-sized handlebar moustache, he went on to a solid career in film and television. 
     1907 – Warren E. Burger (d. 1995) was born in St. Paul, MN.  He was the 15th Chief Justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Although Burger was a conservative, the Supreme Court delivered a variety of transformative decisions on abortion, capital punishment, religious establishment, and school desegregation during his tenure. 
    1908 - The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lt. Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.      
    1911 – First transcontinental airplane flight, New York to Pasadena, CA in 82 hours 4 minutes.   
    1912 - Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes an impressive Major League debut against the Pirates. The likable Brooklyn outfielder from Kansas City collects four hits, drives in two runs and swipes a pair of stolen bases.
    1916 – Baron Manfred von Richthofen, The Red Baron, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France….and you thought he was just a character in a Snoopy song!
    1917 -The Pittsburgh Pirates retired #33 to honor Honus Wagner, their shortstop for 21 seasons.  Wagner won his eighth (and final) batting title in 1911, a National League record that remains unbroken to this day, and matched only once, by Tony Gwynn. He also led the league in slugging six times and stolen bases five times.  His career batting average was .329 with 3430 hits and over 1,700 RBIs.  In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the five charter members. He received the second-highest vote total, behind Ty Cobb’s 222 and tied with Babe Ruth at 215.  Most baseball historians consider Wagner to be the greatest shortstop ever and one of the greatest players ever. Cobb himself called Wagner "maybe the greatest star ever to take the diamond."  Honus Wagner is also the featured player of one of the rarest and the most valuable baseball cards in existence.
    1920 - The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH.  An agreement to form a league was made by four independent teams from Ohio on August 20, 1920, at Ralph Hay's office in Canton with plans to invite owners of more teams for a second meeting on September 17.  The "American Professional Football Conference" (APFC) was made up of Hay's Canton Bulldogs, Akron Pros, Cleveland Tigers, and Dayton Triangles, who decided on a six-game scheduled to play each other at home-and-away, an agreement to respect each other's player contracts, and to take a stand against signing college students whose class had not yet graduated.  The September 17 meeting, with the original four APFC clubs, as well as a fifth Ohio team that had played informally in what historians later dubbed the “Ohio League,” (the Columbus Panhandles) and four teams from Illinois (Chicago Cardinals and Chicago Tigers, Decatur Staleys, and Rock Island Independents), two from Indiana (Hammond Pros and Muncie Flyers), two from New York (Buffalo All-Americans and Rochester Jeffersons), and the Detroit Heralds from Michigan for a total of 14. At the meeting, the name of the league became the American Professional Football Association. Four other teams also joined the Association during the year. Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe of the Canton Bulldogs was named the APFA's first president but continued to play for the team.  This foundation is the primary reason for the location in Canton of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
    1920 – The St. Louis Cardinals set a Major League record of 12 consecutive hits in 4th (10) and 5th (2) innings.
    1923 - Birthday Hiram King “Hank” Williams (d. 1953), country and western singer, at Georgia, AL. He achieved his first major hit with “Lovesick Blues,” which brought him a contract with the Grand Ole Opry. His string of hits included “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Honky Tonk Blues,” “Jambalaya,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Take These Chains From My Heart” and “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive,” which was released prior to his death Jan 1, 1953 at Oak Hill, VA.
    1923 - Pianist Ralph Sharon (d. 2015) birthday in London.  He immigrated to America in 1953, becoming a U.S. citizen five years later.  By 1958, Sharon was recording with Tony Bennett, the start of a more than 50 year working relationship as Bennett's man behind the music on many Grammy-winning studio recordings and touring with Bennett for many years.  Ralph Sharon continued to perform with the Ralph Sharon Trio at Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge in Denver until his death.
http://www.yamaha.com/musiced/allaccess/summer2K1/36sharon.htm
    1925 - Birthday of organ player Eugene “Brother Jack” McDuff (d. 2001), Champaign, IL
    1927 - Birthday of sax player Sam Butera (d. 2009), New Orleans, LA
    1927 - Birthday of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback and place-kicker George Frederick Blanda (d. 2010), at Youngwood, PA.  Blanda, the first in a succession of Hall of Fame QBs from western PA, played pro football for a record 26 years, retiring at age 48 in 1976, having then scored more points than anyone in history. He played QB and kicked for Coach Bear Bryant at the University of Kentucky, and for the Chicago Bears from 1949-58, retiring when Coach George Halas insisted he give up quarterbacking.  When the American Football League started in 1960, Blanda signed with the Houston Oilers as QB and kicker, leading them to the first AFL Championships in 1960 and 1961.  Released by the Oilers at age 40 in 1967, he was picked up by the Oakland Raiders, who played the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II.  In 1970, Blanda had one of the most remarkable five-game stretches in history:  Against the Steelers, Blanda threw for three touchdowns in relief of an injured Daryle Lamonica. One week later, his 48-yard field goal with three seconds remaining salvaged a 17–17 tie with the Kansas City Chiefs. On November 8, Blanda once again came off the bench to throw for a touchdown pass to tie the Cleveland Browns with 1:34 remaining, and then kicked a 53-yard field goal with 0:03 left for the 23–20 win. In the team's next game, Blanda replaced Lamonica in the fourth quarter and connected with Fred Biletnikoff on a touchdown pass with 2:28 left in the game to defeat Denver, 24–19. The streak concluded one week later when Blanda's 16-yard field goal in the closing seconds defeated the San Diego, 20–17.  He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.
    1928 - Hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee, Florida drowning 1,800-2500.
    1931 - Birthday of Anne Bancroft, born Anna Maria Louisa Italiano (d. 2005) in The Bronx. A much-honored U.S. stage and film actor, she won the 1960 Tony (ANTA) award for originating the Annie Sullivan role in “The Miracle Worker” and won the Academy Award when she reprised the role on film. In 1987, she won the top British film award for her beautifully understated role in “84 Charing Cross Road.” Other awards: 1958 Tony for best supporting actress for “Two for the Seasons;” Academy Award nominations for “The Pumpkin Eater” (1964) which won the Cannes International Film festival prize, “The Graduate” (1967), and “The Turning Point” (1977).
    1931 - RCA Victor began demonstrating a very early version of the long-playing (LP), 33-1/3 RPM phonograph record. It would be another 17 years before RCA rival Columbia would begin mass production of the LP.
    1932 – Concord, NH was drenched with 5.97 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a record for that location (16th- 17th).
    1934 - Birthday of Maureen “Little Mo” Catherine Connolly Bringer (d. 1969), tennis player, at San Diego, CA. She became the second-youngest woman to win the US National championship at Forest Hills, NY. She repeated in 1952 and won the Wimbledon, too. In 1953, she became the first woman to win the Grand Slam, taking the US, French, Australian and Wimbledon championships. After winning a second and straight French title and a third straight Wimbledon, she suffered a crushed leg in a horseback riding accident and never competed again.    
    1935 - Hippie bus driver, psychedelician, author Ken Kesey’s (d. 2001) birthday, LaJunta, CO.  At a Veterans Administration hospital in Menlo Park, California, Kesey was a paid volunteer experimental subject, taking mind-altering drugs and reporting their effects. His experiences as an aide at a psychiatric hospital and LSD sessions served as background for “One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest,” which was set in a mental hospital. The book reveals the dehumanizing effects of the social conformity of the 1950s, and gained huge critical & commercial success. Kesey formed the 'Merrie Pranksters,' bought an old school bus, and toured America and Mexico with his friends. Their weird exploits were later chronicled in Tom Wolfe's “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” (1973).
http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Authors/about_ken_kesey.html
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/sixties/kesey.html
    1937 - Birthday of baseball legend Orlando Cepeda, born Orlando Manuel "Peruchin" Cepeda Pennes in Ponce, PR.  Cepeda, “The Baby Bull” is a member of 14 Halls of Fame, including the Baseball Hall of Fame to which he was elected in 1991.  He was the second Puerto Rican in the Hall after Roberto Clemente. 
http://www.latinosportslegends.com/cepeda.htm
    1937 - Artie Shaw Band records “Nightmare.”
    1937 – The first NFL game in the nation’s capital sees the Washington Redskins defeat the New York Giants, 13-3.  The new owner, George Preston Marshall, moved the team from Boston the previous year.
    1939 – Birthday of retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter at Melrose, MA.
    1941 - In front of only 3,585 fans in St. Louis, twenty-year old Stan Musial makes his Major League debut against the Boston Braves, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. 'Stan the Man' will collect a total of 3,630 hits during his 22-year Hall of Fame career, 1815 hits at home and 1815 on the road.
    1941 – Birthday of longtime California Congressman Robert Matsui (d. 2005) in Sacramento.  A third-generation Japanese-American, Matsui was six months old when he and his family were taken from Sacramento and interned by the U.S. government at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center in 1942.  He graduated from The University of California and Hastings College of Law and began his practice.  He was a 14-term Representative when he died in office.
    1944 - CLARK, FRANCIS J., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company K, 109th Infantry, 28th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Kalborn, Luxembourg, 12 September 1944; near Sevenig, Germany, 17 September 1944. Entered service at: Salem, N.Y. Birth: Whitehall, N.Y. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He fought gallantly in Luxembourg and Germany. On 12 September 1944, Company K began fording the Our River near Kalborn, Luxembourg, to take high ground on the opposite bank. Covered by early morning fog, the 3d Platoon, in which T/Sgt. Clark was squad leader, successfully negotiated the crossing; but when the 2d Platoon reached the shore, withering automatic and small-arms fire ripped into it, eliminating the platoon leader and platoon sergeant and pinning down the troops in the open. From his comparatively safe position, T/Sgt. Clark crawled alone across a field through a hail of bullets to the stricken troops. He led the platoon to safety and then unhesitatingly returned into the fire-swept area to rescue a wounded soldier, carrying him to the American line while hostile gunners tried to cut him down. Later, he led his squad and men of the 2d Platoon in dangerous sorties against strong enemy positions to weaken them by lightning-like jabs. He assaulted an enemy machinegun with hand grenades, killing 2 Germans. He roamed the front and flanks, dashing toward hostile weapons, killing and wounding an undetermined number of the enemy, scattering German patrols and, eventually, forcing the withdrawal of a full company of Germans heavily armed with automatic weapons. On 17 September, near Sevenig, Germany, he advanced alone against an enemy machinegun, killed the gunner and forced the assistant to flee. The Germans counterattacked, and heavy casualties were suffered by Company K. Seeing that 2 platoons lacked leadership, T/Sgt. Clark took over their command and moved among the men to give encouragement. Although wounded on the morning of 18 September, he refused to be evacuated and took up a position in a pillbox when night came. Emerging at daybreak, he killed a German soldier setting up a machinegun not more than 5 yards away. When he located another enemy gun, he moved up unobserved and killed 2 Germans with rifle fire. Later that day he voluntarily braved small-arms fire to take food and water to members of an isolated platoon. T/Sgt. Clark's actions in assuming command when leadership was desperately needed, in launching attacks and beating off counterattacks, in aiding his stranded comrades, and in fearlessly facing powerful enemy fire, were strikingly heroic examples and put fighting heart into the hard-pressed men of Company K.
    1945 - Birthday of basketball coach and player Philip D. “Phil” Jackson, Deer Lodge, MT.  Currently President of the New York Knicks in the NBA, Jackson is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the NBA.  Jackson was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls (1989-98), during which Chicago won six NBA championships. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five championships from 2000 until 2010. In total, Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, surpassing the previous record of nine set by Red Auerbach, all with the Boston Celtics. He also won two championships as a player with the Knicks in 1970 and 1973, and holds the NBA record for the most combined championships (13) as a player and a head coach. He also has the highest winning percentage of any NBA coach (.704).
    1946 - Woody Herman’s First Herd records “Sidewalks of Cuba”
    1947 – Jackie Robinson was named Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News.
    1947 – James V. Forrestal was named the first Secretary of Defense after the War Department was renamed.
    1950 - PILILAAU, HERBERT K., Medal of Honor.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Pia-ri, Korea, 17 September 1951. Entered service at: Oahu, T.H. Born: 10 October 1928, Waianae, Oahu, T.H. G.O. No.: 58, 18 June 1952. Citation: Pfc. Pililaau, a member of Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The enemy sent wave after wave of fanatical troops against his platoon which held a key terrain feature on "Heartbreak Ridge." Valiantly defending its position, the unit repulsed each attack until ammunition became practically exhausted and it was ordered to withdraw to a new position. Voluntarily remaining behind to cover the withdrawal, Pfc. Pililaau fired his automatic weapon into the ranks of the assailants, threw all his grenades and, with ammunition exhausted, closed with the foe in hand-to-hand combat, courageously fighting with his trench knife and bare fists until finally overcome and mortally wounded. When the position was subsequently retaken, more than 40 enemy dead were counted in the area he had so valiantly defended. His heroic devotion to duty, indomitable fighting spirit, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.
    1950 – The first NFL game for the San Francisco 49ers who moved over from the old All-America Football Conference, a short-lived NFL rival league.  The Niners moved with the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Colts. The game was played at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park with the Niners losing to the New York Yanks, 21-17.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference
    1951 - Top Hits
“Because of You” - Tony Bennett
“The Loveliest Night of the Year” - Mario Lanza
“Sweet Violets” - Dinah Shore
“Always Late (With Your Kisses)” - Lefty Frizzell
    1951 – Birthday of Cassandra Peterson, Manhattan, KS.  You may know her as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
    1952 - Frank Sinatra sang at his final session with Mitch Miller and Columbia Records.
    1953 - Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. Banks was also quick to say, “Let’s play two!” Banks was the Cubs’ outstanding shortstop from 1954 to 1960. Banks won the National League MVP Award in 1958 and 1959, the first player in the NL to do so.  In 1961 he was moved to left field, then to first base, where he spent the rest of his career. In 1969, Ernie Banks was voted the Cub’s best player ever by Chicago fans. ‘Mr. Cub’ retired in 1971.  He holds most of the Cubs’ batting records and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.
    1954 - Rocky Marciano retained possession of the world heavyweight boxing title. He knocked out Ezzard Charles in the eighth round of their championship bout.
    1955 - Actor James Dean made a public information film for TV, urging teenagers to drive safely. At the end of the month, he would be killed in a high speed car crash driving his Porsche Spyder.
    1955 - "The Perry Como Show" moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV. Soon, U.S.A. audiences would “Sing along with me ... I’m on my way to the stars...” with the incomparable Mr. C. Como’s hour-long variety show replaced his three-times-per-week, 15-minute show, which had been on the air since 1948. The new version of "The Perry Como Show" soon became Saturday’s highest-rated TV program, beating CBS competitor Jackie Gleason.
http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/
perryComoShow2.html
    1955 – Birthday of comedian Rita Rudner, Miami, FL.
    1957 - “Sugarfoot” premiered on TV. My father wrote many of these
episodes. It was one of three ABC westerns produced by Warner Brothers in the late 50's. The show alternated with “Cheyenne” and “Bronco Layne.” Will Hutchins starred as Tom (Sugarfoot) Brewster, an Easterner with designs on becoming a lawyer in the Wild West. All three shows later aired under the “Cheyenne” appellation in 1960.
http://home.att.net/~dadmug/sugarfoot.html
    1959 - Top Hits
“Sleep Walk” - Santo Johnny
“I’m Gonna Get Married” - Lloyd Price
“(’Til) I Kissed You” - The Everly Brothers
“The Three Bells” - The Browns
    1960 – Cuba nationalized US banks there.  On August 6, 1960, Cuba had nationalized the businesses and properties of the national telephone and electricity companies; Texaco, Esso and Sinclair oil companies; and the 36 sugar mills owned by U.S. firms in Cuba as a response to President Eisenhower’s reduction of Cuban sugar imports to the US.  The nationalization of US banks was the prelude to the nationalization of the entire Cuban banking system in October, 1960.
    1961 - A new team debuted in the National Football League: the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings defeated the Chicago Bears by a score of 37-13 in the team’s first game.  Rookie Fran Tarkenton plays his first NFL Game and comes off the bench to become the only QB to throw four touchdown passes in his first career game
    1961 - "Car 54 Where are You?" premiers on TV
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/csmiths/index.html
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/csmiths/showfacts.html
    1961 - The world's first retractable-dome stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh.
    1963 - “The Fugitive” premiers. A nail-biting adventure series on ABC.  Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for his wife’s murder but escaped from his captors in a train wreck. This popular program aired for four years detailing Kimble’s search for the one-armed man (Bill Raisch) who had killed his wife, Helen (Diane Brewster). In the meantime, Kimble himself was being pursued by Lieutenant Philip Gerard (Barry Morse). The final episode aired Aug 29, 1967, and featured Kimble extracting a confession from the one-armed man as they struggled from the heights of a water tower in a deserted amusement park. That single episode was the highest-rated show ever broadcast until 1976. The TV series generated a hit movie in 1993 with Harrison Ford as Kimble and Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones as Gerard.
http://www.unchance.net/Fugitive/
    1964 - “Bewitched” premiered on TV. This sitcom centered around blonde-haired witch Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery). Although she promises not to use her witchcraft in her daily life, Samantha finds herself twitching her nose in many situations. Her husband, Darrin Stephens, was played by Dick York and Dick Sargent, and her daughter, Tabitha Stephens, was played by Erin and Diane Murphy. My stupid daughter named by first girl grandchild: Tabitha, after the baby TV witch. The last episode aired July 1, 1972. Other cast members included Agnes Moorhead, David White, Alice Ghostley, Bernard Fox and Paul Lynde.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0057733/
    1964 – The Yankees’ Mickey Mantle gets hits #1999, 2000 & 2001 and his 450th HR.
    1964 - The Beatles break with established practice and agree to add an extra date to their current US tour after the group is offered a then-record $150,000 by the owner of the Kansas City (Missouri) Athletics to perform a gig in KC's Municipal Stadium. The Beatles cannily add their medley of "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" to the set list, the only time they would play this song in America.  Thanks to the efforts of Charlie Finley (seen below wearing a wig), the Beatles, who had planned for a day of rest in New Orleans on the only free date scheduled during their American tour, play a concert in Kansas City's Municipal Stadium. The group's manager Brian Epstein, who had had initially turned down the A's owner's offers of $50,000 and $100,000 to have the lads from Liverpool perform in the City of Fountains, agrees on $150,000, about six times the going rate, enabling the Fab Four to earn $4,838 per minute, the largest sum ever paid for a musical concert.
Afterward, their hotel manager sells their unwashed bed sheets to two businessmen from Chicago, who promptly cut them up and sells the pieces for $10 a pop.
    1965 – “Hogan’s Heroes” premiered on television. It was a comedy that took place in a World War II Nazi POW camp that originally was to be an adaption of the movie “Stalag 17.” For six years the prisoners, under the lead of Colonel Robert Hogan (played by former KNX, Los Angeles, radio air personality, Bob Crane), managed to outwit the incompetent and inept Nazi Colonel Wilhelm Klink (played very competently by Werner Klemperer [2-time Emmy-Award winner for his role]) and Nazi Sgt. Shultz (played quite deftly by John Banner), “I know noth—ING.”
http://www.hogansheroesfanclub.com/
http://www.tvtome.com/HogansHeroes/
    1966 - “Mission: Impossible” premiered. This action-adventure espionage series was produced by Bruce Geller, appearing on CBS for seven years. The premise of the show was simple: each week the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) leader would receive instructions on a super-secret mission to be carried out by the crew. Steven Hill played the first IMF leader, Dan Briggs. He was replaced by Peter Graves who played Jim Phelps. The crew included: Martin Landau as Rollin Hand, master of disguise, Barbara Bain, real-life wife of Landau, as Cinnamon Carter, Greg Morris as Barney Collier, technical expert, Peter Lupus as Willy Armitage, tough guy, Leonard Nimoy as Hand’s replacement, Paris, Lesley Ann Warren as Dana Lambert, Sam Elliott as Doug, Lynda Day George as Lisa Casey and Barbara Anderson as Mimi Davis. The show was remade for ABC in 1988; it lasted two seasons. The latest incarnation of “Mission: Impossible” was on the silver screen in 1996, starring Tom Cruise.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-577
http://www.geocities.com/rickstvshows/missionimp66.html
    1966 - The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" peaks at #2 on the chart, while The Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice" peaks at #8 and The Hollies' "Bus Stop" peaks at #5.
    1966 - At Yankee Stadium, New York celebrates Bobby Richardson Day in honor of their All-Star second baseman, who is retiring at the end of the season. After deciding to leave the playing field in his prime to spend more time with his family, the 31 year-old infielder will return to the game in 1970 to become the head baseball coach at the University of South Carolina where he will compile a 221-92-1 record with the Gamecocks.
    1967 - Top Hits
“Ode to Billie Joe” - Bobbie Gentry
“Reflections” - Diana Ross & The Supremes
“Come Back When You Grow Up” - Bobby Vee
“My Elusive Dreams” - David Houston
    1967 - The Doors perform "Light My Fire" and "People are Strange" on the "Ed Sullivan Show." Prior to the show, Sullivan asked Jim Morrison to change or omit the line "Girl, we couldn't get much higher" in "Light My Fire." Morrison sang it anyway.
    1968 - Diana Ross records "Love Child" without the other two Supremes, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson.
    1969 - Tiny Tim announces his engagement to Victoria May Budinger. 40 million viewers would watch him tie the knot with 17-year-old Miss Vicki on The Tonight Show on December 17, 1969. The union produced a daughter named Tulip but ended when Vicki filed for a divorce on March 6, 1972 and was granted in 1977.
    1970 - The first African-American to compete the Miss America Pageant was Cheryle Adrienne Brown of Jamaica, Queens, New York City, a sophomore at Luther College in Decorah, IA, who represented Iowa in the contest in Atlantic City. (Vanessa Williams the first black Miss America.
A scandal arose when “Penthouse” magazine bought and published nude photographs of her. She relinquished her title early and was succeeded by the first runner-up, Suzette Charles of New Jersey. Williams rebounded by launching a career as an entertainer, earning multiple Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award nominations. In addition to Vanessa Williams, seven women of African-American ancestry won the title Miss America.)
    1972 - “M*A*S*H” premieres. This popular CBS series was based on the 1970 Robert Altman movie and a book by Richard Hooker. Set during the Korean War, the show aired for 11 years (lasting longer than the war). It followed the lives of doctors and nurses on the war front with both humor and pathos. The cast included: Alan Alda as Captain Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, Wayne Rogers as Captain John “Trapper John” McIntyre, McLean Stevenson as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, Loretta Switt as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, Larry Linville as Major Frank Burns, Gary Burghoff as Corporal Walter “Radar” O'Reilly, William Christopher as Father Francis Mulcahy, Jamie Farr as Corporal Max Klinger.  Later, Harry Morgan as Colonel Sherman Potter and Mike Farrell as Captain B.J. Hunnicut replaced Stevenson and Blake, respectively. The show won numerous awards during its run. Its final episode, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” was the highest-rated program of all time, topping the “Who Shot J.R.?” revelation on “Dallas.” See also: ~M*A*S*H: The Final Episode: Anniversary” (Feb 28). The show generated two spin-offs: “Trapper John, MD” and “After M*A*S*H.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068098/
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tv/mash/guide/
    1975 - Top Hits
“Rhinestone Cowboy” - Glen Campbell
“At Seventeen” - Janis Ian
“Fame” - David Bowie
“Feelins’” - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynne
    1976 - The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.
    1977 - Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" is #1 for 19th straight week
    1978 – The Camp David Accords are signed by Egypt and Israel at The White House, witnessed by President Jimmy Carter.
    1980 - Bette Midler's "Divine Madness," a film of a 1979 concert in Pasadena, CA, premieres in Los Angeles.
    1981 – “Fernandomania” is in full flight.  The LA Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela sets NL rookie record with his 8th shutout of season.
    1983 - Vanessa Williams, Miss New York, was crowned Miss America. Williams was the first black woman in the 62-year history of the Miss America Pageant to win the coveted title. Williams relinquished her crown during her reign when nude pictures of her were published in "Penthouse" magazine. She went on to enjoy popularity as a singer ("Dreamin’," "Save the Best for Last") and an actress ("Candyman," "Another You," "Under the Gun").
    1983 - Slugger Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox broke Hank Aaron’s Major League record for games played. ‘Yaz’ played in his 3,299th game.
    1983 - Top Hits
“Maniac” - Michael Sembello
“Tell Her About It” - Billy Joel
“The Safety Dance” - Men Without Hats
“Night Games” - Charley Pride
    1984 - The largest group of immigrants to become naturalized citizens of the U.S., 9,706 people, was sworn in by Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL.
    1984 - Oil heir Gordon P. Getty, with a fortune of $4.1 billion dollars, was named the richest person in the U.S. There were a dozen billionaires in the U.S. at the time.
    1984 - On the seventeenth anniversary of his first Major League round-tripper, Reggie Jackson connects off Kansas City pitcher Bud Black in the bottom of the seventh inning for his 500th career home run. The milestone hit proves to be the only run the Angels would score in the Royals' 10-1 victory.
   1986 - The New York Mets clinched their first divisional title since 1973 by defeating the Chicago Cubs 4-2. The Mets later won the World Series as well, featuring the famous game 6 when they rallied with 2 outs and no one on in the 9th to win when Sox 1B Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s routine grounder go through his legs, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run.
    1986 - “Head of the Class.” This ABC sitcom was the antithesis of “Welcome Back, Kotter.” It ran for five years, depicting the travails and triumphs of brainy students in the Individual Honors Program (IHP) of New York’s Fillmore High School. One episode in 1988 was the first American prime-time program filmed entirely in the Soviet Union. Howard Hesseman starred as part-time actor and substitute teacher Charlie Moore (a man more adept at teaching life’s lessons than history). The cast also featured William G. Schilling as Principal Samuels, Jeannetta Arnette as Assistant Principal Bernadette Meara, Leslie Bega as Maria, Dan Frischman as Arvid, Robin Givens as Darlene, Khrystyne Haje as Simone, Jory Husain as Jawarharlal, Tony O’Dell as Alan, Brian Robbins as Eric, Kimberly Russell as Sarah, Dan Schneider as Dennis, Tannis Vallely as Janice, Rain Pryor as T.J., Michael DeLorenzo as Alex, Lara Piper as Vicki, De’voreaux White as Aristotle and Jonathan Ke Quan as Jasper. After Hesseman left the show in 1990, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly took over the class. The series ended with the graduation of all the characters, June 25, 1991.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-1346
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0090444/
    1987 – While visiting San Francisco, Pope John Paul II embraces a boy stricken with AIDS.
    1988 - Early in the morning a tornado hit Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX, injuring three persons and causing twenty-eight million dollars damage. A second tornado on the northwest side of San Antonio caused six million dollars damage, and a third tornado in Bexar County killed one person and injured another. Thunderstorms associated with Hurricane Gilbert spawned a total of forty-seven tornadoes in a two day period, with forty of those tornadoes in central and south central Texas.
    1989 - Hurricane Hugo hit the Virgin Islands, producing wind gusts to 97 mph at Saint Croix. Hurricane Hugo passed directly over the island of Saint Croix causing complete devastation and essentially cutting off the island from communications. A storm surge of five to seven feet occurred at Saint Croix. The only rain gauge left operating, at Caneel Bay, indicated 9.40 inches in 24 hours. Hurricane Hugo claimed the lives of three persons at Saint Croix and caused more than 500 million dollars damage. A ship, Nightcap, in the harbor of Culebra, measured wind gusts as high as 170 mph. A cold front brought high winds to the Great Basin and the Rocky Mountain Region, and thunderstorms along the cold front produced wind gusts to 66 mph at Yellowstone Park, WY.
    1991 - “Home Improvement” premiered. This comedy centered around the Taylors. Tim “The Toolman” Taylor, played by Tim Allen, was a TV host on the popular fix-it show “Tool Time.” Jill, played by Patricia Richardson, was a housewife and mother going back to school to get a degree in psychology. The couple’s three sons were played by Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith. Other cast members included Richard Kern, Earl Hindman, Debbe Dunning and Pamela Anderson. The last episode aired May 25, 1999.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-635
    1991 - Top Hits
“The Promise of a New Day” - Paula Abdul
“I Adore Mi Amor” - Color Me Badd
”Motownphilly” - Boys II Men
“Leap of Faith” - Lionel Cartwright
    1991 - The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
    1993 - Los Angeles police began an investigation into child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. The investigation began after the son of a Beverly Hills dentist told his therapist that Jackson sexually abused him. Jackson's security consultant claimed the allegations followed a failed attempt to blackmail the singer for 20 million dollars. Although no criminal charges were filed, lawyers for the 13-year-old filed a civil suit a month later claiming damages for sexual battery, seduction and other allegations. The suit was settled out of court in January 1994. Reports said Jackson paid anywhere from $5 to $24 million. During the initial uproar over the investigation, Jackson cancelled or postponed several dates on his "Dangerous" world tour, citing illness or exhaustion. He later called off the rest of the tour, saying he would undergo treatment for an addiction to pain killers. Jackson said he began taking the drugs after his scalp was burned while filming a Pepsi commercial several years earlier, and the stress over the sex abuse allegations made the addiction worse. He subsequently married Elvis’ daughter Lisa Marie in 1994, then fathered two children with second wife, Deborah Rowe.  The youngest Jackson offspring’s mother is unknown, believed to have been the product of the artificial insemination of a surrogate mother.  Jackson died in 2009 of cardiac arrest precipitated by an overdose.
    1993 - Texas Ranger superstar Nolan Ryan strikes out Angel catcher Greg Myers for his 5,714th and final career strikeout.
    1994 - "II", by Boyz II Men, debuted at number one on the "Billboard" U.S. album chart. Cuts on the LP: "Thank You", "All Around the World", "U Know", "Vibin’", "I Sit Away", "Jezzebel", "Khalil [Interlude]", "Trying Times", "I’ll Make Love to You", "On Bended Knee", "50 Candles", "Water Runs Dry", "Yesterday". "II" was #I for IV weeks.
    1996 – The Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo no-hits the Colorado Rockies, 9-0 at Coors Field, the first no-hitter ever thrown by a Japanese-born pitcher in the Majors.  Nomo pitched over the span of 13 seasons with 8 different teams, before retiring in 2008. He won the Rookie of the Year in 1995. He twice led the league in strikeouts and threw another no-hitter.
    1997 - The old Canadian National train station in Liverpool, Nova Scotia was reopened as the Hank Snow Country Music Centre. Ill health prevented the 83-year-old Snow from attending the ceremony in his hometown. He had moved to Nashville in the 1950s. Snow donated two vintage cars and one of his famous rhinestone suits to the centre.
    1997 - Fleetwood Mac begins their first tour in 20 years at the Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford, CT.
He has a restaurant in Maui, as well is back on tour in the mainland again.
    2001 – The New York Stock Exchange re-opens for trading after the 9/11 attacks, ending the longest closure since the Great Depression. The Dow ended the day down about 681 points at the 8,924, according to preliminary calculations. Its previous record for a one-day drop was 617.78, set April 14, 2000. The heavy selling was widely expected in a market already fragile because of poor corporate profits and outlooks. And since the attacks, which shut the nation's stock market for four days, the major airlines have announced cutbacks and reduced schedules, adding to investors' nervousness about the future.
    2004 - San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit his 700th career home run, joining Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) as the only players to reach the milestone.
    2006 - For the first time in thirty years, the Red Sox sweep a doubleheader from their arch rivals, the Yankees. Boston hadn't beaten the Bronx Bombers twice in one day since July 31, 1976, and Independence Day of 1973 was the last time they did it as the visiting team.
    2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the long-dormant volcano in at least 10,000 years.
    2007 - Marc Ecko, who made millions from his brand of clothing, announces on the Today Show, he is giving the public the opportunity to vote on the fate of Barry Bonds' record-breaking home run ball. The 35-year old fashion designer, who paid $752,467 for the ball at an online auction, has set up a website, www.vote756.com, which gives the fans the option of voting to (1) send the ball directly to Cooperstown, (2) branding it with an asterisk before sending it to the Hall of Fame or (3) putting the ball on a rocket ship and launching it into outer space.
(Number 2 is the winner.)
    2008 - Derek Jeter becomes the all-time hits leader at Yankee Stadium, which will be demolished at the end of the season. The team's shortstop and captain surpasses Lou Gehrig's record with a first-inning single in a 6-2 loss to the White Sox bringing his total to 1,270 at the 85-year-old ballpark.
    2011 – ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement begins in Zuccotti Park in New York City.
    2012 – MASA reported that its three-man crew of Joe Acaba and Russian colleagues Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin landed safely in the Russian-made Soyuz capsule after 123 days at the International Space Station.
    2014 – The Federal Reserve will continue its current program of slow withdrawal of economic stimulus measures as US unemployment and underemployment numbers have not improved quickly enough to warrant a change in policy.
    2015 – GM agreed to pay $900 million and will undergo compliance monitoring to settle charges that it knew about faulty ignition switches for automobiles for years but neither reported nor fixed them.  Over 120 people died in crashes as a result.