Monday Morning in the Blogosphere

 The Heritage Hotel Manila, Philippines

Madison Cap Times reporters announce union - The NewsGuild-CWA

11 publications that allow you to republish their work for free - Journalism UK

Do links hurt news publishers on Twitter? Our analysis suggests yes - Nieman Lab

Journalism at a crossroads: A new declaration aims to rebuild trust in the news - E&P Reports

Disappearing before our eyes: One photographer’s passion project of capturing local newsrooms - AP

Important Events From This day in History May 4th

 

 

2007 - U.S.A Greensburg, Kansas Tornado

2007 : An EF5 tornado nearly 2 miles wide travels through the city of Greensburg, Kansas leveling most of the city and killing eleven people, the winds were estimated in the tornado to reach 205 mph. The video gives an idea of the complete devastation caused by the tornado.

4 May, 1970 - U.S.A. Kent State University Shootings

1970 : After a number of days of protest against US invasion of Cambodia the National Guards fired on protesters at Kent State University and 4 were killed and a further 10 were injured. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang about it with the song "Ohio"

4 May, 1932 - U.S.A. Al Capone

1932 : Al Capone begins life as convict 40886 in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary serving 11 years for Income Tax Evasion.

1886 - U.S.A. Haymarket Square Riot

1886 : A labor rally held in protest of the killing of a striker by the Chicago police the day before at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, ends with more violence as a bomb is thrown by the protesters and at the police and police responded with wild gunfire, killing several people in the crowd and injuring dozens more.

4 May, 1920 - Paris Opera House

1920 : The Symphony Society of New York presented a concert at the Paris Opera House. This was the first time an American orchestra made a tour abroad to Europe.

4 May, 1926 - Great Britain General Strike

1926 At the end of the second day of Great Britain General Strike the government has asked for approval of A State of Emergency with powers for the armed forces to take over important industries including transport and power supply, currently there are a number of major cities running on 1/3 of power and with food rotting in docks around the country.

1930 - India Mahatma Gandhi

1930 : The leader of India's civil disobedience campaign, Mahatma Gandhi, was taken into British police custody.

1945 - Holland German Troops Surrender

1945 : German forces in Holland and Denmark surrender to British Troops.

1948 - U.S.A. Rail Strike

1948 : The leaders of the three rail unions have threatened to call a national rail strike which will cripple the countries commerce and the federal government is looking at federal seizure of the railways as a way of keeping transport going.

1959 - U.S.A. Grammy Awards

1959 : The first year of Grammy Awards by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences are presented.

1966 - UK Doctors and Dentists

1966 : Following a pay review body recommendations doctors' and dentists' salaries are to be increased by up to 30%.

1969 - U.S.A. Student Protesters

1969 : More arrests and demonstrations are happening by student protesters on College and University campuses both against the Vietnam War and on grounds of civil liberties for African-American students. As a result, more colleges are calling in National Guardsman to break up demonstrations which is in turn leading to more unrest.

1970 - Kent State University Shootings

1970 : After a number of days of protest against US invasion of Cambodia the National Guards fired on protesters at Kent State University and 3 were killed and a further 10 were injured.

1979 - UK Mrs Thatcher

1979 : Mrs Thatcher arrives at Downing Street to take over from the defeated labour leader James Callaghan after winning an overall majority in British Elections.

1982 - Falkland Islands HMS Sheffield

1982 : Argentina strikes back at British Forces following the sinking of General Belgrano sinking the The British warship HMS Sheffield with an Argentine Exocet missile fired from an Argentinean fighter bomber.

1987 - U.S.A. Iran-Contra Affair

1987 : The house and senate committee begin 3 months of hearings into Iran-Contra affair which was the sale of American arms sold secretly to Iran and some of the proceeds were diverted to Contra Rebels seeking to overthrow the Government of Nicaragua.

2000 - UK Ken Livingstone

2000 : Ken Livingstone an independent is elected as London's first elected mayor with a clear victory polling nearly 40% of first preferences in the mayoral election.

2002 - Nigeria Plane Crash

2002 : A Nigerian BAC 1-11-500 aircraft crashes into the town of Kano and explodes in a densely populated section killing 148 people.

2005 - Pakistan Top al-Qaeda Suspect Captured

2005 : Pakistani authorities captured and arrested suspected al-Qaeda chief Abu Faraj al-Libbi. The suspect was thought to be high ranking within the organization and critical to the planning and facilitating of al-Qaeda activities.

2006 - US Picasso Painting Sold at Auction

2006 : Picasso's portrait of his lover Dora Maar was sold at an auction at Sotheby's in New York for 95.2 million dollars. The portrait, painted in 1941, was considered the second most expensive painting at the time, under another Picasso painting that sold for 104 million dollars in 2004.

2007 - Haiti Migrants Dead After Boat Capsizes

2007 : At least twenty migrants from Haiti are killed after their boat capsizes in the Atlantic Ocean. The boat carrying about 150 capsized just South of the Turks and Caicos Islands and many other passengers were rescued.

2008 - Obama Wins Democratic Caucus in Guam

2008 : Barack Obama narrowly defeated Hilary Clinton at the Democratic caucus in Guam, a United States territory. While citizens of Guam cannot vote in a United States presidential election they have the ability to choose delegates to help select the Democratic presidential candidate.

2009 - North Korean Ship Saved

2009 : A North Korean cargo ship was saved from an attempted pirate attack by a South Korean warship off the coast of Somalia. The South Korean ship answered the North Korean ship's distress calls and was thanked by the North Korean ship, despite the two countries being at war with each other for over fifty years.

2011 - Prince Charles Meets With President Obama

2011 : Great Britain's Prince Charles made a visit to the White House to discuss the environment and energy issues with US President Barack Obama. The meeting rounded out the Prince's two day trip to the United States, during which he spoke at the Future of Food conference and met with US veterans in addition to meeting with the president.

2012 - United States Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch Dies

2012 : Rapper Adam Yauch, MCA of the Beastie Boys, died at the age of forty-seven after struggling with salivary gland cancer since 2009. Yauch was known for being a member of the ground-breaking rap group the Beastie Boys and for his lifetime of activism in the Free Tibet movement.

2013 - Solar Plane Lands in Arizona

2013 : The Solar Impulse plane, an aircraft powered completely by solar energy, successfully completed its first leg of a journey across the United States. The Solar Impulse landed in Phoenix, Arizona eighteen hours after leaving its starting point in San Francisco, California.

 Haymarket Square

A day after police killed four striking workers and injured hundreds, protesters gathered at Haymarket Square in Chicago. As the peaceful event drew to a close, a bomb was thrown into the police line, killing one officer and injuring several. Police responded by shooting into the crowd, killing one and wounding many. Eight anarchists were later framed even though most were not even present at the Haymarket rally and there was no evidence that linked any of them to the bombing. Four were hanged, one committed suicide and three were eventually pardoned by Illinois Gov. John Peter Altgeld. The Haymarket affair gave the pretext for a national witch hunt against anarchists and labor radicals and ended the quick rise of the Knights of Labor, a predecessor to the IWW. The Knights of Labor had been growing rapidly, attracting radicals and anarchist members. They professed solidarity with all workers, regardless of race or ethnicity. – 1886

The “Freedom Ride” bus trips began throughout the American South. The Freedom Rides were organized by James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to desegregate bus terminals. On May 14, the first freedom bus was attacked. – 1961

Important Events From This day in History May 2

 

 

2 May, 1930 Hoover Says Stock Market Crash Temporary Setback

1930 : President Hoover in a speech said that the stock market crash of last year was just a temporary setback and would soon pass and that the economy would soon bounce back (this was 6 months after the stock market crash and the great depression of the 1930s would continue and worsen over the next 5 years).

2 May, 1952 England First commercial Jet Airliner

1952 : The worlds first commercial Jet Airliner a De Havilland Comet with 36 passengers paying up to £315 for a return ticket took off from London for Johannesburg, this will cut up to a third of the time from traditional aircraft flight times.

2 May, 1927 U.S.A. Prohibition

1927 : Despite the prohibition law to stop alcohol consumption the sale of hip flasks continues to grow which many say is encouraging the sale of alcohol and women's pressure groups are trying to ban the sale of hip flasks.

2 May, 1969 U.S.A. Student Protests

1969 : Police forces in the United States are cracking down on student protests on campuses across the US using a number of means at their disposal including warrants and an increased police presence. The universities include some of the most well known institutions including Columbia, Harvard, Cornell and Stanford Universities.

2 May, 2011 Osama Bin Laden Killed by US Forces

2011 : Barack Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden had been found and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan in an operation carried out by United States Navy Seals. He announced the raid on Bin Laden's compound had lasted about forty minutes, four other people had been killed in the raid, and that Bin Laden's body was buried at sea according to Islamic standards. The death of the man many believed to be responsible for the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks was celebrated across the United States and many other parts of the world.

2 May, 1929 U.S.A. Tornado

1929 : A devastating tornado sweeps through Morgantown, West Virginia with the path roughly quarter mile wide and ran through the Riverside, Seneca and Walnut Hill areas.

1933 Scotland Loch Ness Monster

1933 : A local Inverness newspaper "The Inverness Courier" publishes an account by a local couple who claimed to have seen "an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface" of Loch Ness.

1938 U.S.A. Ella Fitzgerald

1938 : Ella Fitzgerald recorded "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" with Chick Webb’s band. Fitzgerald soon became known as "The First Lady of Song" and is one of the most successful and influential jazz artists in history.

1945 Germany Fall Of Berlin

1945 : Russia announced the fall of Berlin and the capture of 70,000 Germans who had surrendered.

1946 U.S.A. Alcatraz

1946 : Alcatraz convicts fought a raging gun battle with guards at the rock for their freedom after they seized the guns from the armory and passed them out to fellow prisoners, one guard has been killed and 3 injured. The Guards still do not have control of the Island fully and the fighting continues.

1966 Cambodia

1966 : The United States has admitted firing an artillery barrage into Neutralist Cambodia as part of an offensive against Viet Cong troops, the B52 bombers were sent from Guam to help slow the north Vietnamese offensive.

Today in Labor History May 2nd

Chicago's first Trades Assembly, formed three years earlier, sponsors a general strike by thousands of workers to enforce the state's new 8-hour-day law. The one-week strike was unsuccessful - 1867

Birth of Richard Trevellick, a ship carpenter, founder of American National Labor Union and later head of the National Labor Congress, America’s first national labor organization - 1830

First Workers’ Compensation law in U.S. enacted, in Wisconsin - 1911

President Herbert Hoover declares that the stock market crash six months earlier was just a "temporary setback" and the economy would soon bounce back. In fact, the Great Depression was to continue and worsen for several more years - 1930
 
German police units occupied all trade unions headquarters in the country, arresting union officials and leaders. Their treasuries were confiscated and the unions abolished. Hitler announced that the German Labour Front, headed by his appointee, would replace all unions and look after the working class - 1933

A fire at the Sunshine silver mine in Kellogg, Idaho, caused the death of 91 workers who died from carbon monoxide poisoning, likely caused by toxic fumes emitted by burning polyurethane foam, used as a fire retardant - 1972

Friday Morning in the Blogosphere

 

How journalism is shifting from print logic to conversational media - E&P Magazine

Reporters at McClatchy withhold bylines in dispute over AI content - The New York Times

Some Rationalization May Finally Be Coming for Newsroom Intermediaries - Second Rough Draft

'Don’t shoot the messenger': My call to defend press freedom in a global crisis - Journalism UK

Why audiences are tuning out the news — and how local journalism can win them back - E&P Magazine

Important Events From This day in History May 1

 

 

1 May, 1931 U.S.A. The Empire State Building

1931 : The Empire State Building in New York Officially opens.

1 May, 2003 U.S.A. George W. Bush announces major combat in Iraq is over

2003 : President George W. Bush on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast announces in a speech to the nation, major combat in Iraq is over.

1 May, 1960 Soviet Union American U–2 spy plane

1960 : An American U–2 spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union near Sverdlovsk. The Soviet Union captured the pilot Gary Powers which prompted continuing deterioration in relations between the US and the Soviet Union.

1 May, 1962 U.S.A. First KMART Department Store

1962 : The first Kmart department store opens in Garden City, Michigan selling a range of Clothes, shoes, housewares, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and electronics. Kmart went through a period of rapid expansion up to the early eighties but from the late 80's due to lack of investment in technology and increased competition from the growing Walmart and Target stores and change in customer tastes sales continued to decline. In 2005 following sales decline Kmart merged with Sears, Roebuck and Company.

1 May, 1942 World War II The Fighting Forces

1942 : 

United Nations Total Fighting Men and Women 12 - 18 million

Axis Powers Total Fighting Men and Women 12 - 14 million

1 May, 1941 U.S.A. Code Talkers

1941 : The first "Code talkers" Navajo Indians are specially recruited by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater, they provide an unbreakable combat voice communications code.

1941 U.S.A. Citizen Kane

1941 : The movie "Citizen Kane," the first feature film directed by Orson Welles, also starring Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane premiers in New York.

1925 Germany Field Marshall Hinderburg

1925 : Field Marshall Hinderburg a right wing conservative was elected as the president of Germany.

1931 U.S.A. Al Capone

1931 : The Gangster Al Capone is being sought for questioning over the murder of Mike De Pike Hitler from a rival gang by detectives in Chicago a number of other members of his gang.

Today in Labor History May 1st

 Mary Harris “Mother” Jones born in County Cork, Ireland - 1830

(The Autobiography of Mother Jones: Mary Harris Jones—“Mother Jones”—was the most dynamic woman ever to grace the American labor movement. Employers and politicians around the turn of the century called her “the most dangerous woman in America” and rebellious working men and women loved her as they never loved anyone else.)

Cigar makers in Cincinnati warn there could be a strike in the fall if factory owners continue to insist that they pay 30¢ per month for gas heat provided at work during mornings and evenings - 1883

Eight-hour day demonstration in Chicago and other cities begins tradition of May Day as international labor holiday - 1886

The Cooks’ and Waiters’ Union strikes in San Francisco, demanding one day of rest per week, a 10-hour work day and a union shop for all restaurants in the city - 1901

Mother Jones’ 100th birthday celebrated at the Burgess Farm in Adelphi, Md. She died six months later - 1930

New York City’s Empire State Building officially opens. Construction involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, and hundreds of Mohawk iron workers. Five workers died during construction - 1931

Congress enacts amendments to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, extending protections to the employees of state and local governments—protections which didn’t take effect until 1985 because of court challenges and regulation-writing problems - 1974

The federal minimum wage rises to $2 per hour - 1974

Int’l Molders & Allied Workers Union merges with Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers Int’l Union - 1988

Woodworkers of America Int’l merges with Int’l Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers - 1994

Int’l Leather Goods, Plastics & Novelty Workers Union merges with Service Employees Int’l Union - 1996

Rallies in cities across the U.S. for what organizers call “A Day Without Immigrants.” An estimated 100,000 immigrants and sympathizers gathered in San Jose, Calif., 200,000 in New York, 400,000 each in Chicago and Los Angeles. In all, there were demonstrations in at least 50 cities - 2006

(Mobilizing Against Inequality: Unions, Immigrant Workers, and the Crisis of Capitalism: Are immigrant workers themselves responsible for low wages and shoddy working conditions? Should unions expend valuable time and energy organizing undocumented workers? Unions in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States have taken various approaches to confront the challenges of this significant segment of the workforce. As U.S. immigration policy is debated, readers will gain insight into how all workers benefit when wages and working conditions for immigrant workers are improved.)

Today in Labor History April 30, 2026

 Everettville mine disaster

50,000 workers in Chicago were on strike, with 30,000 more joining in the next day. The strike brought most of Chicago’s manufacturing to a standstill. On May 3rd, Chicago cops killed four unionists. A mass meeting and demonstration was called for the 4th, in Haymarket Square, where a cop would be killed by an assailant who would never be identified. Ultimately, eight anarchists (many not even in attendance) would be tried for murder and sentenced to death. This event, known as the Haymarket Tragedy or the Haymarket Affair, would go on to be the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, celebrated on May 1st in every country in the world except the U.S. – 1886

The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, miner’s strike continued, with 1,200 workers getting arrested and placed into specially erected bullpens until the strikes were broken. – 1889

An explosion at the Everettville mine in Everettville, West Virginia killed 109 miners, many of whom lie in unmarked graves to this day. – 1927

The TWU (Transport Workers Union) won $9.5 million in pensions for former Fifth Avenue Coach employees after a long court battle. – 1965

The Obama administration’s National Labor Relations Board implemented new rules to speed up unionization elections. The new rules were largely seen as a counter to employer manipulation of the law to prevent workers from unionizing. – 2012

Wednesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

 Newsprint

Australia to tax Meta if it doesn’t pay news publishers - Press Gazette

Seven free AI-powered transcription tools for journalists - Journalism UK

Handle with care: AP style drops the hyphen in healthcare, childcare and daycare - Poynter

Local newsrooms have to pick a lane: A response to E&P’s newsroom debate - E&P Magazine

Like nailing Jell-O to a wall: Why unions are struggling to protect journalists’ rights in the age of AI - NL

Important Events From This day in History April 29

 

  

1992 Rioting in Los Angeles

1992: Rioting has broken out in Los Angeles following the decision by a jury to acquit four white police officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King. The case centered on a video, taped by an amateur cameraman which caught the scene on film as the four police officers beat, kicked and clubbed unemployed laborer Rodney King while other officers looked on. The officers did face a second trial a year later, on federal charges of violating Rodney King's civil rights, 2 were found guilty and faced prison sentences of two years. The violence continued for 4 days in which 55 people were killed caused by revenge attacks against whites and Asians by the black rioters. Find More What happened in 1992

1958 Britain My Fair Lady

1958: The Broadway musical "My Fair Lady" opens for its first night in London, with Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins, and Julie Andrews playing Eliza Doolittle. Tickets for the show cost just over £1, the first month is sold out before opening night.

1922 USA Lower Louisiana Floods

1922: Starvation threatens victims of the overflow of flood waters in lower Louisiana with nearly 3,500 square miles underwater and fifty thousand people affected many losing their homes and all possessions.

1934 USA John Dillinger

1934: John Dillinger is still on the run from a nationwide hunt after escaping from a band of policemen with orders to catch him dead or alive 1 week ago in North woods Wisconsin, after escaping a dragnet was put up in surrounding countryside but again he escaped and is still Americas Public Enemy Number 1 and still running wild and free.

1934 Europe Growth of Fascism

1934: With fascist dictators in power across Europe now parading their might and power including Hitler in Germany and Italy's Mussolini democracy is challenged more in this decade than any other.

1941 Greece Conquest of the Balkans

1941: Hitler and Germany completed the conquest of the Balkans in 1941 when they swept across Southern Greece taking many thousands of prisoners including British, Australian and new Zealand.

1945 Germany Dachau Concentration Camp

1945: Dachau concentration camp was liberated today when troops of the U.S. Seventh Army cleared the enemy guards from the camp where gruesome torture rooms and gas chambers were located.

1956 Britain Plane Crash

1956: A transport plane loaded with servicemen and their wives and children crashed today at Stanstead Airport while taking off to go to war torn Cyprus.

1963 Saipan Typhoon Olive

1963: Typhoon Olive with 110 MPH Winds destroyed 95% of the homes on the Island of Saipan and all electric power and telephones were down , there were no reported deaths but most of the population of the Island are now homeless.

1970 US Troops Invade Cambodia

1970: Following 12 months of bombing by US during Operation Menu, On This Day the South Vietnamese troops invade Cambodia and US troops follow 2 days later. The operation to invade Cambodia lasted until the end of June when US and South Vietnam's troops pull back out.

1974 USA President Nixon Watergate

1974: President Nixon announced in a nationally broadcast address he will hand over 1200 pages of White House Transcripts that will tell it all about Watergate and will prove his innocence.

1986 England Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson

1986: The Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, is laid to rest alongside her husband, the abdicated King Edward VIII, at Frogmore in Windsor. Members of the Royal family including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, as well as The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher attended the ceremony.

1991 Bangladesh Cyclone

1991: A cyclone hits Bangladesh with winds in excess of 150 MPH and a 20 foot storm surge and kills more than 135,000 people in flat low lying Bangladesh.

1993 England Buckingham Palace

1993: Buckingham Palace will open its doors to the public in order to raise money to repair the fire-damaged Windsor Castle. The palace will only be open in August and September when the Queen is at her Scottish residence, Balmoral. The cost of entrance will be £8 for an adult.

2004 USA National World War II Memorial

2004: The National World War II Memorial between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument a monument to the 16 million U.S. men and women who served during World War II opened to the public in Washington D.C.

2007 Turkish Protest In Support of Secularism

2007: Hundreds of thousands of Turks have rallied in Istanbul in support of the country's secularism, amid rows on one of their presidential candidate's Islamic roots. The protesters are concerned that the ruling party's candidate, Abdullah Gul, is too loyal to Islam. Gul, himself, has said he would not quit, despite growing criticism from his opponents and from the army.

2007 Iran Bans Western Hairstyles

2007: Iranian police have been warning barbers not to give men Western hairstyles, or to use make-up on them. This is part of a fierce crackdown on what is known as bad hijab, or un-Islamic clothing. Iranian television has said that the crackdown on un-Islamic clothing has started its next phase, in which mobile police units will patrol Tehran in search of those who do not observe Islamic dress sense. Tehran's public prosecutor has suggested that women who violate dress rules should be exiled from the capital, and forced to live in remote areas of the country.

2009 First US Swine Flu Death

2009: A Mexican child has died of swine flu in Texas. He was twenty-three months old. The child is one of the 91 cases of swine flu that have been reported in the U.S. The World Health Organization has said that the virus was still spreading. Spain has said that it has confirmed its first case in a person who has not traveled to Mexico. The Mexican boy had arrived in the Texan border city of Brownsville on April 4th, and had developed flu symptoms within a few days.

2010 US Gulf Oil Spill

2010: The U.S. government has designated the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as an "incident of national significance". The Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has told reporters that this will allow resources to be ordered in from other areas of the country. Some five thousand barrels of oil a day are leaking into the water from the explosion that took place on a B.P.-operated rig. The Coast Guard has said that the oil is expected to start washing ashore on April 30th. Louisiana's coastline is the most threatened.

2010 US Navy Lifts Ban on Female Submarine Crew

2010: Women can now serve on U.S. submarines. The Defense Department had announced that the ban would be lifted in February, and the deadline for Congressional objections was passed at midnight on April 28th. Training women for their new duties and the creation of appropriate quarters will mean that it will be more than a year before women can take up their posts. The cramped conditions had previously precluded women, despite their being able to serve alongside men on surface ships.About 15% of Navy personnel are women.

Today in Labor History April 29th, 2026

 Coxey’s Army

Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. His Army of the Poor was immediately arrested for trespassing on Capitol grounds. – 1894

The Return of Coxey’s Army (By Eddie Starr)

    When they busted all the unions,
    You can’t make no living wage.
    And this working poor arrangement,
    Gonna turn to public rage.
    And then get ready . . .
    We’re gonna bring back Coxey’s Army
    And take his message to the street.

Failing to achieve their demand that only union men be employed at the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho, members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) dynamited the $250,000 mill, completely destroying it. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas, with orders to round up the miners and imprison them in specially built “bullpens”. From 1899 to 1901, the U.S. Army occupied the Coeur d’Alene mining region in Idaho. – 1899

The special representative to the National War Labor Board issued a report, Retroactive Date for Women’s Pay Adjustments, setting forth provisions respecting wage rates for women working in war industries who were asking for equal pay. A directive issued by the board in September 1942 stated that “rates for women shall be set in accordance with the principle of equal pay for comparable quantity and quality of work on comparable operations.” – 1943

Refusing to accept a 9-cent wage increase, the United Packinghouse Workers of America initiated a nationwide strike against meatpacking companies Swift, Armour, Cudahy, Wilson, Morrell, and others. Packinghouse workers shut down 140 plants around the country. – 1948

Important Events From This day in History April 28

 

 

1947 Peru Kon-Tiki Expedition

1947: A Norwegian expedition including 5 Norwegians and a Swede headed by Thor Heyerdahl set out on the raft The Kon-Tiki from Peru in South America to cross the 4000 miles of Pacific Ocean to prove that the Polynesian Islands were settled in a similar way thousands of years ago, the raft is equipped with a square sail and paddles. Find More What happened in 1947

2008 New Zealand Colossal Squid

2008: A rarely found Colossal Squid 34 feet long, and weighing 1/2 ton squid is being dissected to help understand a little more about rare animal that lives largely in the cold Antarctic waters. The squid is believed to grow up to 50 ft long a similar length to the sperm whale they are believed to tussle with in the depths of the ocean.

1940 USA Glenn Miller Pennsylvania 6-5000

1940: "Pennsylvania 6-5000," by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, was recorded. The song's title refers to the oldest existing New York City phone number at the time belonging to the Hotel Pennsylvania. Many prominent acts played at this venue, including the Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington and the Glenn Miller Orchestra as well.

1789 Tahiti Mutiny On The Bounty

1789: Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny against the commanding officer William Bligh aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty. Mutineers set Captain Bligh and 18 crew loyal to the captain afloat in a 23-foot open boat. Captain Bligh and his fellow loyal crew made it after a 47-day voyage to Timor in the Dutch East Indies and returned to England and reported the mutiny. The Mutineers eventually settled in Pitcairn Island and Tahiti.

1926 Europe 5,000,000 Unemployed

1926: Unemployment in Europe is at an all time high with over 5,000,000 receiving doles from their governments with over 1 million in Britain and 2 million in Germany, causes are from many things including antiquated equipment, high taxes, and high production costs.

1935 USA 1,200,000 Face Starvation in Illinois

1935: Over 1,200,000 people face starvation in Illinois if the US Federal Government stops providing new deal funding, the reason is that the state must provide $3,000,000 of the $12,000,000 required each month to feed and house the unemployed indigents or the federal government withdraws it's funding and the state does not have the money and is not providing that funding.

1945 Italy Mussolini

1945: Italian partisans executed deposed dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci. Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.

1955 Vietnam Nigo Dinh Diem

1955: The American backed premier Nigo Dinh Diem in Vietnam is fighting for survival against rebel forces , the backing of the US is only in expression of support and is not providing military support in any way.

1965 Dominican Republic US Citizens Evacuated

1965: U.S. Marines evacuated American citizens in the Dominican Republic due to the current civil war.

1967 USA Muhammad Ali

1967: Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali appears for his scheduled induction into the U.S. Armed Forces in Houston, he refused three times to step forward at the call of his name. He is then warned by an officer that failing to answer to his name was a felony punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. He still refused to budge when his name was called. On the same day, the New York State Athletic Commission suspended his boxing license and stripped him of his title. In 1964 he had failed the U.S. Armed Forces qualifying test because his writing and spelling skills were sub par. However, in early 1966, the tests were revised and Ali was reclassified as 1A. When notified of this status, he declared that he would refuse to serve in the United States Army.

1969 USA All Guns Banned From US Colleges

1969: Following a number of protests and armed students involving guns and weapons in colleges and universities across the US new laws are being sought to ban all guns from college compasses.

1969 France Charles de Gaulle Resigns

1969: The French President, Charles de Gaulle, resigns from President of France after 11 years, following his defeat in a referendum on governmental reforms.

1975 Vietnam Last US Citizens Evacuated

1975: US Involvement in Vietnam is now complete as helicopters and marines bring out the last US Citizens and parents of thousands of South Vietnamese children are begging the US to save the children as US Marines are using pistol and rifle butts to smash the fingers of Vietnamese trying to climb over the walls and enter the US Embassy compound.

1986 Soviet Union Chernobyl

1986: Two days after monitoring stations in Sweden, Finland and Norway began reporting sudden high discharges of radioactivity in the atmosphere. The Soviet Union via the official news agency, Tass, said there has been an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

1994 USA Aldrich Ames

1994: A CIA double agent Aldrich Ames is jailed for life after admitted selling secrets to the Soviet Union and then Russia.

1995 South Korea Gas Explosion

1995: A gas explosion beneath a busy city street in Taegu, South Korea, kills more than 100 people many of them children on their way to school.

1996 Australia Gunman Kills 32

1996: A gunman has shot and killed 32 people in the tourist town of Port Arthur, Tasmania. The gunman is now holding three people hostage in a local guest-house. The gunman "Martin Bryant" did kill the three hostages during the siege and is captured by police the next day and is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.

2004 USA Abu Ghraib Prisoner Abuse Scandal

2004: The first photos of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal were shown on CBS' "60 Minutes II." . The US army has all ready instituted and was already acting on these photographs prior to the 60 Minutes Showing and those involved are all in Iraq, awaiting court martial. The abuses were committed by some personnel of the 372nd Military Police Company of the United States together with additional American governmental agencies.

2006 Wiretapping Lawsuit Against AT&T

2006: The Bush administration has said that it will be trying to halt the lawsuit that is accusing AT&T of illegally helping the National Security Agency spy on Americans citizens. In an 8-page document that was filed with a federal court in a northern district of California, the U.S. Justice Department said that it would intervene in the lawsuit. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group based in San Francisco, had filed a class action lawsuit against the federal government in January. The suit claims AT&T's alleged cooperation violates the Constitution's free speech and privacy rights and contravenes the federal wiretapping law, which prohibits electronic surveillance "except as authorized."

2008 Supreme Court Approves Indiana’s Photo ID Voting

2008: The Supreme Court has issued a decision to uphold an Indiana law that requires citizens to provide photo identification when voting. It is hoped that this will guard against fraud. Critics of the law argue that it discriminates against poor voters, ethnic minorities and the elderly, who are less likely to carry ID, but the Court ruled that the law did not constitute a burden on voters. Other states have similar rules, and the court's ruling could prompt even more states to adopt the law.

Today in Labor History April 28th, 2026

 

181-192 (sources differ) workers died in a coal mine collapse disaster at Eccles, West Virginia. The mine was owned by the Guggenheim family. – 1914

A bomb plot was discovered in which over 30 dynamite bombs were to be sent people “on the anarchists’ enemies list,” including U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, who had been rounding up, imprisoning and deporting anarchists and union activists. Other targets included  J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. – 1919

119 died in a Benwood, West Virginia coal mine disaster. – 1924

The United Wallpaper Craftsmen & Workers of North America merged with the Pulp, Sulfite & Paper Mill Workers union. – 1958

The American Federation of Hosiery Workers merged with the Textile Workers Union of America. – 1965

Congress approved the creation of OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (only to watch idly as it was gutted by Reagan, and again by his successors). The AFL-CIO declared April 28 “Workers Memorial Day” to honor the hundreds of thousands of working people killed and injured on the job every year. – 1970.

The first “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” took place on this day, promoted by the Ms. Foundation. Its purpose was to boost the self-esteem of girls with invitations to a parent’s workplace. – 1993

Tuesday Morning in the Blogosphere

 Newspaper printing press 

Geospatial AI is reinventing the rainforest beat - Nieman Lab

Here are the winners of the 2026 Poynter Journalism Prizes - Poynter

Truth is not enough - journalism now needs more than facts - Journalism UK

Pew study examines why Americans hesitate to pay for news - E&P Magazine

What audiences want vs. what they need: E&P Reports on the road at NY Press - E&P Reports

Important Events From This day in History April 27

 

 

1954 USA Movie "White Christmas"

1954: The Movie White Christmas featuring the songs of Irving Berlin, including the Title Song White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, opens at Radio City Music Hall. The original song "White Christmas" was originally heard for the first time in the 1942 film Holiday Inn starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.

1938 US Average Incomes Down Up to 20%

1938: The national average income again dropped in comparison from 10 years ago in 1928 by 7% with some areas of the workforce earning up to 20% less than 10 years ago.

1938 USA Tommy Dorsey

1938: Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded "I Hadn’t Anyone ’til You" with Jack Leonard as vocalist. Tommy Dorsey and his brother became two of the most famous big band leaders of their day and are still the model for many jazz and swing musicians today.

1941 Greece Nazi Occupation

1941: Nazis take and occupy Athens in Greece.

1945 Germany War Entering Final Phase

1945: The war in Europe is entering it's final phase as Russian and American troops join hands at the River Elbe in Germany. Ten Days later on May 7th Germany signs unconditional surrender.

1948 USA Rail Strike

1948: A Major Rail Strike country wide is due to start at midnight with much of the rail network closed down across the US.

1953 USA Executive Order 10450

1953: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450: Hiring and Firing rules for Government Employment. Homosexuality, moral perversion, and communism were categorized as national security threats and could be used as a condition for firing a federal employee and for denying employment to potential applicants.

1958 Stop Nuclear Bomb Testing

1958: Scientists around the world are asking politicians to stop nuclear bomb tests including the Nobel Prize Winner Dr Albert Schweitzer.

1961 Sierra Leone Gains Independence

1961: Sierra Leone in West African gains independence, after more than 150 years of British colonial rule.

1968 Middle East Continued Fighting

1968: More fighting broke out along the Suez Canal and the River Jordan between Israel and Arab Troops with Egyptian and Jordanian and Israel Forces lined up against each other in a tense middle east.

1968 USA War in Vietnam

1968: Many thousands of diversified beliefs protested against the War in Vietnam and many antiwar demonstrators ended up in fights with local police forces around the country who were trying to keep the peace.

1971

1971: Eight members of the Welsh Language Society (the Society wishes to preserve the Welsh Language and part of that was to include all signs in Wales to be bilingual) they are accused of conspiring to damage, remove or destroy English language road signs in Wales.

1974 USA Calls For Impeachment Nixon

1974: Calls for the impeachment of president Nixon gathered pace as a march by thousands of protesters demanding Nixon to be impeached.

1978 Afghanistan Rebels Take Over

1978: Military rebels in Afghanistan murdered both the president and his brother during the coup and have taken over all news TV and radio stations in the capital Kabul and have sealed off the countries airports and roads.

1984 England Libyan Embassy Siege Ends

1984: Earlier in the week diplomatic ties are severed between England and Libya and Libyan embassy officials are given 7 days to leave the country. The British ambassador to Libya was given the same deadline to leave Tripoli. Today Libyan diplomats under diplomatic immunity are escorted to Heathrow and onto a plane out of the country which allows the person or persons unknown who shot and killed WPC Fletcher to leave the country and not have to face murder charge.

1992 England Betty Boothroyd

1992: Betty Boothroyd, is elected as Speaker in the house of commons becoming the first woman speaker in its 700-year history.

1994 South Africa Nelson Mandela

1994: South Africans vote in the country's first multiracial parliamentary elections. Nelson Mandela of the ANC is voted by a landslide to be the next president of South Africa and head the new coalition government.

2005 France Airbus A380

2005: The Airbus A380 makes it's maiden test flight in Toulouse, France. The Airbus A380 (Superjumbo) is the largest passenger airliner in the world, it is a double-deck wide-body, four-engine aircraft which is capable of carrying up to 853 people in all economy class configurations, This is about 300 more than the Jumbo Jet from Boeing which has been in service for nearly 40 years. The Airbus A380 has now been in commercial use since 2007, Boeing is working on a similar aircraft with similar passenger carrying capabilities.

2007 Saudi Arabia detains multiple terror suspects

2007: Saudi Arabia claims to have foiled a plot to carry out suicide air attacks on oil installations and military bases in the area. Foreign nationals are among the suspects that are being held from a series of raids. Large amounts of weapons and $32.4 million in cash were seized in these. The Saudi authorities have been battling al-Qaeda since 2003.

2008 Josef Fritzl Arrested for Imprisoning Daughter for 24 Years

2008: A 73-year-old Austrian, Josef Fritzl, has been arrested on suspicion of keeping his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years, and fathering seven children with her. The existence of the woman, believed missing since 1984 and now 42, was discovered after her teenage daughter was taken to hospital. Both the woman and teenage girl are receiving medical treatment. The police investigation in Amstetten, Lower Austria Province, is continuing.