Today’s Highlights

On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state erupted, leaving an estimated 57 people dead or missing.

On this date

1896: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, endorsed “separate but equal” racial segregation. (The decision was reversed 58 years later by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.)

1927: In America’s deadliest school attack, part of a schoolhouse in Bath Township, Michigan, was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a bomb in his truck; the attacks killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who’d earlier killed his wife. (Authorities said Kehoe, who suffered financial difficulties, was seeking revenge for losing a township clerk election.)

1981: The New York Native, a gay newspaper, carried a story concerning rumors of “an exotic new disease” among LGBTQ+ people; it was the first published report about what came to be known as AIDS.

1998: The U.S. government filed an antitrust case against Microsoft, saying the powerful software company had a “choke hold” on competitors that was denying consumers important choices about how they bought and used computers. (The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in 2001.)

Today’s birthdays

Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is 79. Musician Rick Wakeman is 76. Musician-composer Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) is 75. Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter is 22.