Today is Tuesday, April 1, the 91st day of 2014. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool’s Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 1, 1789, the U.S. House of Representatives held its first full meeting in New York; Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first House speaker.
On this date:
In 1853, Cincinnati, Ohio, established a fire department made up of paid city employees.
In 1912, the city of Branson, Mo., was incorporated.
In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. (Hitler was released in Dec. 1924; during his time behind bars, he wrote his autobiographical screed, “Mein Kampf.”)
In 1933, Nazi Germany staged a daylong national boycott of Jewish-owned businesses.
In 1939, the United States recognized the government of Gen. Francisco Franco in Spain, the same day Franco went on radio to declare victory in the Spanish Civil War.
In 1945, American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II.
In 1954, the United States Air Force Academy was established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
In 1963, New York City’s daily newspapers resumed publishing after settlement was reached in a 114-day strike. The daytime drama “General Hospital” premiered on ABC-TV.
In 1972, the first Major League Baseball players’ strike began; it lasted 12 days.
In 1976, Apple Computer was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
In 1984, recording star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his father, Marvin Gay (cq) Sr. in Los Angeles, the day before his 45th birthday. (The elder Gay pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and received probation.)
In 1992, the National Hockey League Players’ Association went on its first-ever strike, which lasted 10 days.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush signed into law new protections for the unborn that for the first time made it a separate federal crime to harm a fetus during an assault on the mother. Michigan won the NIT championship with a 62-55 victory over Rutgers. Actress Carrie Snodgress died in Los Angeles at age 57.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama, in London for an economic crisis summit, sought to rally the world’s top and emerging powers to help cope with a global downturn; chanting protesters clashed with riot police in the British capital. Sixteen people, most of them oil workers, were killed when a Super Puma helicopter crashed into the North Sea off Scotland’s northeast coast. In a college baseball blowout, Eastern Kentucky was leading Kentucky State 49-1 when the teams stopped playing after five innings (they also agreed to cancel the second game of a scheduled double-header).
One year ago: Prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty for James Holmes should he be convicted in the July 2012 Colorado movie theater attack that killed 12 people. A cast member of the MTV reality show “BUCKWILD,” Shain Gandee, 21, was found dead in a sport utility vehicle in a West Virginia ditch along with his uncle and a friend; they had succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning after the SUV’s tail pipe became submerged.