May fourth

Today's Highlight in History:
On May fourth, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others.

On this date:
In 1626, Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on present-day Manhattan Island.

In 1776, Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

In 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, a labor demonstration for an eight-hour work day turned into a riot when a bomb exploded.

In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.

In 1932, mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

In 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, began during World War Two.

In 1945, during World War Two, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender.

In 1961, a group of "Freedom Riders" left Washington for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation in interstate buses and bus terminals.

In 1980, Marshal Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia, died three days before his 88th birthday.

In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

Ten years ago: The South African government and the African National Congress concluded historic talks in Cape Town with a joint statement agreeing on a "common commitment toward the resolution of the existing climate of violence."

Five years ago: An Iranian nuclear official said spent fuel from Iran's Russian-made reactors, potential raw material for nuclear bombs, would be returned to Russia for safeguarding.

One year ago: Work crews struggled to restore electricity across Serbia after NATO strikes on major power grids left Belgrade and other cities in the dark. Five New York police officers went on trial for the torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. (One officer later pleaded guilty; a second was convicted; the other three were acquitted.) Tornadoes roared across the Plains for a second straight day.

"Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we must be saved by hope."

-- Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian (1892-1971).