SATURDAY

Associated Press

Today is April 2, the 92nd day of 2022. There are 273 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 2, 2005, Pope John Paul II died in his Vatican apartment at age 84.

On this date:

In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., because of advancing Union forces.

In 1912, the just-completed RMS Titanic left Belfast to begin its sea trials eight days before the start of its ill-fated maiden voyage.

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declared war four days later.)

In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seized the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seized the islands back the following June.)

In 1986, four American passengers, including an 8-month-old girl, her mother and her grandmother, were killed when a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a TWA jetliner en route from Rome to Athens, Greece.

In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was convicted in New York of murder and racketeering; he was later sentenced to life, and died in prison.

In 1995, after a work stoppage lasting nearly eight months, baseball owners accepted the players’ union offer to play without a contract.

In 2002, Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, where they began a 39-day standoff.

In 2003, during the Iraq War, American forces fought their way to within sight of the Baghdad skyline.

In 2007, in its first case on climate change, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, ruled 5-4 that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

In 2020, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide passed the 1 million mark, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The captain of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier facing a coronavirus outbreak was fired after widely distributing a memo pleading for help; Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Capt. Brett Crozier had demonstrated “poor judgment” in a crisis. (Modly himself would resign days later after facing a backlash over his harsh criticism of Crozier in remarks to the ship’s crew.)

Ten years ago: A gunman killed seven people at Oikos University, a Christian school in Oakland, Calif. (The shooter, One Goh, died in 2019 while serving a life prison sentence.) The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that jailers may perform invasive strip searches on people arrested even for minor offenses. Kentucky won its eighth men’s national NCAA basketball title, holding off Kansas for a 67-59 victory.

Five years ago: Jason Aldean was named entertainer of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards held in Las Vegas. A’ja Wilson scored 23 points to help coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina win their first women’s NCAA championship with a 67-55 victory over Mississippi State.

One year ago: In his first call to the president of Ukraine, President Joe Biden underscored U.S. support for that country, amid reports of Russian troop movements on Ukraine’s eastern border. A U.S. Capitol police officer, William Evans, was killed when a man rammed a car into officers at a barricade outside the Capitol building and then emerged with a knife; authorities shot the suspect, who died at a hospital. Major League Baseball rescinded its decision to have Atlanta host the 2021 All-Star Game; the move came in response to a sweeping new voting law in Georgia that critics said would negatively affect communities of color. Rapper DMX was rushed from his home to a suburban New York hospital after going into cardiac arrest; he died a week later.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sharon Acker is 87. Actor Dame Penelope Keith is 82. Actor Linda Hunt is 77. Singer Emmylou Harris is 75. Actor Sam Anderson is 75. Social critic and author Camille Paglia is 75. Actor Pamela Reed is 73. Rock musician Dave Robinson (The Cars) is 73. Country singer Buddy Jewell is 61. Actor Christopher Meloni is 61. Singer Keren Woodward (Bananarama) is 61. Country singer Billy Dean is 60. Actor Clark Gregg is 60. Actor Jana Marie Hupp is 58. Rock musician Greg Camp is 55. Actor Roselyn Sanchez is 49. Country singer Jill King is 47. Actor Pedro Pascal is 47. Actor Adam Rodriguez is 47. Actor Michael Fassbender is 45. Actor Jaime Ray Newman is 44. Rock musician Jesse Carmichael (Maroon 5) is 43. Actor Bethany Joy Lenz is 41. Singer Lee Dewyze (TV: “American Idol”) is 36. Country singer Chris Janson is 36. Actor Drew Van Acker is 36. Actor Briga Heelan (TV: “Great News”) is 35. Actor Jesse Plemons is 34. Singer Aaron Kelly (TV: “American Idol”) is 29.

SUNDAY

Associated Press

Today is April 3, the 93rd day of 2022. There are 272 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 3, 1973, the first handheld portable telephone was demonstrated for reporters on a New York City street corner as Motorola executive Martin Cooper called Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

On this date:

In 1865, Union forces occupied the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va.

In 1882, outlaw Jesse James was shot to death in St. Joseph, Mo., by Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang.

In 1936, Bruno Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton, N.J., for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.

In 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces began their final assault on Bataan against American and Filipino troops who surrendered six days later; the capitulation was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March.

In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Smith v. Allwright, struck down a Democratic Party of Texas rule that allowed only white voters to participate in Democratic primaries.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the Marshall Plan, designed to help European allies rebuild after World War II and resist communism.

In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered what turned out to be his final speech, telling a rally of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, that “I’ve been to the mountaintop” and “seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!” (About 20 hours later, King was felled by an assassin’s bullet at the Lorraine Motel.)

In 1974, deadly tornadoes began hitting wide parts of the South and Midwest before jumping across the border into Canada; more than 300 fatalities resulted from what became known as the Super Outbreak.

In 1978, at the Academy Awards, Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” was named best picture of 1977; its co-star, Diane Keaton, won best actress while Richard Dreyfuss was honored as best actor for “The Goodbye Girl.”

In 1996, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested at his remote Montana cabin.

In 2014, David Letterman announced during a taping of the “Late Show” on CBS that he would retire as host in 2015. (Stephen Colbert was named as his replacement a week later.)

In 2020, President Donald Trump announced new federal guidelines recommending that Americans wear face coverings when in public to help fight the spread of the coronavirus, but Trump immediately said he had no intention of following that advice himself; he said he could not envision himself covering his face while sitting in the Oval Office greeting world leaders.

Ten years ago: Mitt Romney tightened his grip on the Republican presidential nomination, sweeping primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. In a speech to the annual meeting of The Associated Press, President Barack Obama accused Republican leaders of becoming so radical and rigid that even the late Ronald Reagan could not win a current GOP primary were he running. Baylor finished off an undefeated season with an 80-61 win over Notre Dame in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game.

Five years ago: A divided Senate Judiciary Committee panel voted 11-9 along party lines to favorably recommend Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch to the full Senate. A suicide bombing aboard a subway train in St. Petersburg, Russia, left 16 people dead and wounded more than 50; authorities identified the bomber as a 22-year old Kyrgyz-born Russian national. The NHL announced it would not participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. North Carolina scored the last eight points for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga and an NCAA title.

One year ago: Gonzaga beat UCLA 93-90, while Baylor roared to a 78-59 victory over Houston, to advance to the championship game of the NCAA basketball tournament, which would be won by Baylor.

Today’s Birthdays: Conservationist Dame Jane Goodall is 88. Actor William Gaunt is 85. Songwriter Jeff Barry is 84. Actor Eric Braeden is 81. Actor Marsha Mason is 80. Singer Wayne Newton is 80. Singer Tony Orlando is 78. Comedy writer Pat Proft is 75. Folk-rock singer Richard Thompson is 73. Country musician Curtis Stone (Highway 101) is 72. Blues singer-guitarist John Mooney is 67. Rock musician Mick Mars (Motley Crue) is 66. Actor Alec Baldwin is 64. Actor David Hyde Pierce is 63. Rock singer John Thomas Griffith (Cowboy Mouth) is 62. Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is 61. Rock singer-musician Mike Ness (Social Distortion) is 60. Rock singer Sebastian Bach is 54. Rock musician James MacDonough is 52. Olympic gold medal ski racer Picabo Street is 51. Actor Jennie Garth is 50. Actor Jamie Bamber is 49. Actor Adam Scott is 49. Christian rock musician Drew Shirley (Switchfoot) is 48. Comedian Aries Spears is 47. Actor Matthew Goode is 44. Actor Cobie Smulders is 40. Rock-pop singer Leona Lewis is 37. Actor Amanda Bynes is 36. Actor-comedian Rachel Bloom is 35. Actor Hayley Kiyoko is 31. Rock musician Sam Kiszka (Greta Van Fleet) is 23.