This Day in History

By The Standard Staff - 05/09/2008

Today Friday, May 9, is the 130th day of 2008. There are 236 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight: On May 9, 1754, a cartoon in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette showed a snake cut into sections, each part representing an American colony; the caption read, “JOIN, or DIE.” On this date: In 1936, Italy annexed Ethiopia.

In 1945, U.S. officials announced that a midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.

In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Nixon.

In 1980, 35 people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 1,400-foot section to collapse.

Birthdays CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace is 90. Actress Geraldine McEwan is 76. Actor-writer Alan Bennett is 74. Actor Albert Finney is 72. Actress-turned-politician Glenda Jackson is 72. Producer-director James L. Brooks is 68. Singer Tommy Roe is 66. Actress Candice Bergen is 62. Actor Anthony Higgins is 61. Singer Billy Joel is 59. Actress Alley Mills is 57. Actress Wendy Crewson is 52. Actor John Corbett is 47. Actress Rosario Dawson is 29. Actress Rachel Boston is 26.

Worth repeating ...

“We cannot put off living until we are ready.” — Jose Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (1883-1955)