29 May

Notable events, 29 May 1765: Patrick Henry (VA) denounced the Stamp Act. 1790: RI was last colony to ratify the Constitution. 1953: New Zealander Hillary and Nepalese guide Norgay summited Mt. Everest. 1988: President Reagan and USSR’s Gorbachev met in Moscow. 2015: President Obama removed Cuba from U.S. terrorism list. 2019: Special Counsel Mueller said President Trump could not be charged, but was not exonerated. 2024: MLB added Negro League statistics/players to its record books and 13 year-old Westminster, CO, teen Aditi Muthukumar is among the 8 finalists at the  National Spelling Bee. (See below)

30 May 1431: Joan of Arc burned at the stake. 1922: Lincoln Memorial dedicated. 1935: Babe Ruth players last game. 1958: The Unidentified from WW II and Korea interred at Arlington. 1989: Chinese students erected “Goddess of Democracy” statue in Tiananmen Square. 2002: Solem, wordless ceremony ended cleanup at ground zero NYC. 

Weather news. Damaging storms swept many midwest areas on 29 May with winds, tornados, and hail. An earlier hail storm had swept the area with similar damaging winds and up to softball-size hail. Crop damage is still being assessed. The area’s very wet spring may have been a saving grace after all.  

Health news. (1) Changes in how the military pays for health care may cause the closing of the cancer center at Children’s Hospital in Colorado Springs. It would tie military payments to what Medicare would pay. (2) The long-endured smell and now health concerns have caused Denver residents living near the Nestle-Purina pet food plant in Denver’s Swansea neighborhood to file suit in federal court over odors which exceed state standards. 

National Spelling Bee. The presence of a CO finalist will mean the contest’s official pronouncer, Jacques Bailley, will have to be a bit cautious with normally enthusiastic presence: he won the contest in 1988 as a Denver-area 8th grader. Bailley retells that his win resulted in a White House invitation to meet President Carter — where the staff misspelled his name: they’d never met a Bailley, only a Bailey or two.