This Day In History

Ten years ago.. My lord.

Maddie McCann's Parents Launch New Appeal to Find Her

ABC- The parents of missing British girl, Madeleine McCann urged the government today to renew efforts to find her.

Nearly three years after Maddie McCann disappeared in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz, just days before her fourth birthday, her father, Gerry McCann accused British authorities of giving up on the search for his "innocent, vulnerable" daughter.

"I don't think it's right that as parents, that we have to drive the search. Of course we will, but not everyone has had the same resources and support that we have had to be able to do that. And I think it's pretty cruel," Gerry McCann said in an interview on the British broadcast of GMTV.

Gerry and Kate McCann today released a pack of posters to the public which can be displayed all over the world, to remind people to be on the look out for their missing child.

On May 3, 2007, Madeleine disappeared from the holiday apartment where the McCanns were staying, when her parents stepped out for dinner in a nearby restaurant, leaving their three children alone in the flat.

The parents established a campaign to find her, and won the support of several high-profile figures, including soccer star David Beckham and industrialist Richard Branson.

Last year, on the second anniversary of Madeleine's disappearance, they released an "age progression" photograph of her, showing her as she would have looked on what would have been her sixth birthday.

They launched the picture with a fresh appeal for information about her whereabouts on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

In 2008, Portuguese authorities closed the case and cleared Kate and Gerry McCann of any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance. But criticism of the couple -- and their decision to leave Madeleine unattended in the hotel room -- persists in some quarters.

During her interview with Winfrey, Kate McCann acknowledged the criticism and said, "I can persecute myself every day about that. I feel awful that we weren't there, at that minute, somebody took an opportunity to take Madeleine."

Today Gerry McCann said on GMTV, "If we could turn back the clock and change what happened, obviously we wouldn't have done it."

"We can't. And what I would say is, you know, people have got to put themselves into our position. What would you do if it was your daughter? After this, what would you do?"

Kate McCann said she found Madeleine's absence on her birthday on May 12 particularly hard to endure, explaining "the 12th is obviously a day when we should be celebrating Madeleine, celebrating with Madeleine."

But even on other days, she said, the fact of Madeleine's absence "will just suddenly stop you. We had a lovely day last week and it was really sunny, and you could smell the grass being cut and I thought, 'Oh it's really nice'. And then it just kind of gets you. Madeleine is still not here."

Gerry McCann said today that he continued to believe his daughter was alive. "Certainly in my heart I feel she is out there. I mean I know there is nothing to say that she isn't, so we have to carry on working and thinking like that," he said.

His wife, who also appeared on GMTV, said, "If we haven't found Madeleine, if we don't know what has happened, you haven't done enough."

Gerry McCann added that until the person who took Madeleine is caught, he or she continues to be a threat to other children, saying, "at the end of the day, the person that has taken Madeleine is still out there and they are a potential danger to other children, so they need to be brought to justice."

Sad Anniversary Approaching..

Nearly 3 years have passed since our family member - Lisa Ruttenberg Stebic - was last seen on April 30, 2007, at her home in Plainfield, Illinois.

Despite the naming of her estranged husband - Craig Stebic - as a "person of interest" in the case of her disappearance - and, the fact that the FBI & Plainfield Police Department believe she was a victim of foul play - no arrest has been made.

Columbine Dad Excepts a Quiet Day Marking 11 Years Since School Shooting

Now Public.com - On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine high school, and marked one of the bloodiest school shooting incidents in the US.

The Columbine school massacre took the lives twelve students and one teacher. The massacre ended after the two shooters committed suicide. Sadly, the lesson of Columbine was not enough to stop another deadly school shooting, and legislators still struggle to close the loophole that made the massacre possible.

The motive of the shooters were the center of public's attention. The FBI's Columbine investigators and psychiatrists argued that Eric Harris was a clinical psychopath, and Dylan Klebold was depressive. Others have different interpretations. Jerald Block, a US psychiatrist, believe that violent video games led up to the shooting.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold obtained their weapons from gun show hobbyist dealers through a friend. Eleven years later, the situation is still much the same. While the public polls show a majority favoring the closing of gun show loophole, legislators still have not pass laws to require buyers at gun shows to undergo rigorous background checks.

Tom Mauser, whose son was murdered at Columbine school shooting, challenged the gun extremists and the cultural that has come to accept excessive gun exposure in public spaces. As a board member and spokesperson for Colorado Ceasefire, he spent part of his weekend picketing outside of a Starbucks store to protest gun enthusiasts gatherings in Starbucks.

Oklahoma City Marks 15 Years Since Bombing

OKLAHOMA CITY — It's been 15 years since a terrorist's bomb destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 600 others.

The passage of time hasn't made mourning any easier for many victims' family members.

"Time heals nothing," said Debi Burkett Moore, whose brother, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development worker David Burkett, was killed. She and other family members placed flowers on an empty chair meant to honor her brother that's among a field of chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

"It makes it a little more bearable, but it heals nothing," Moore said.

About 2,000 people gathered at the memorial Monday to honor those killed and injured in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At the time, it was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

For many in attendance, a visit to the memorial is an annual rite — a way to pause and remember a loved one, former colleague, friend or neighbor who died in the attack.

Kathryn Burkett, the mother of David Burkett, said she grows sadder by his absence with each passing year.

"Why it is sadder? I don't know why," Burkett said. "You just live with it."

Other victims' family members said they, too, still feel a deep sense of grief 15 years after the bombing.

"I don't make it here every year. It's just too hard. It's just like yesterday," said Cornelius Lewis III, who wore a T-shirt and medallion that bore the portrait and nickname, "Puddin," of his late sister, Social Security Administration employee Charlotte Thomas.

"In 15 years, I would never miss it," said her mother, Bettie Lewis. "This is part of our lives. I would never miss it."

Another of Thomas' brothers, Guy Lewis, said his sister's life will never be forgotten thanks to new curriculum guidelines for Oklahoma students that mandate instruction about the Oklahoma City bombing and its aftermath.

"She's going to be in the history books. Her memory is going to live forever," he said.

Vickie Lykins and her sister, Angela Richerson, placed a rose, an American flag and a colorful purple ribbon on the chair honoring their mother, Norma "Jean" Johnson, a former Defense Security Service worker who was killed.

"This is our mother's favorite color," Lykins said as she solemnly secured the ribbon to the chair. Lykins said she misses her mother "very much" but preferred to keep her feelings about the bombing anniversary and her mother's death to herself.

"There's a lot of things we could say. But we won't," she said.

During a ceremony for bombing victims and survivors, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the city's spirit in the wake of the tragedy served as an example to the nation.

Napolitano also said the bombing anniversary was a reminder of "the continued need for vigilance against the violent ideologies that led to this attack, so that we can recognize their signs in our communities and stand together to defeat them."

"We cannot put a glass dome over our country. We cannot guarantee there will not be another attack. No one can," Napolitano said. "But we are a strong and resilient country. And we can resolve that even a successful attack will not defeat our way of life."

Across Oklahoma City, people observed 168 seconds of silence to honor the dead. Some dabbed away tears as the ceremony closed with family members reading a roll call of those who died.

"What defines us as a nation, as a people and as communities is not what we have suffered, but how we have risen above it, how we've overcome," Napolitano said. "We can resolve that the Oklahoma Standard becomes the national standard."

Attending the ceremony was Charlie Hangar, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who stopped bomber Timothy McVeigh on Interstate 35 the day of the blast because his 1977 Mercury Marquis did not have a license plate.

Hangar, now the Noble County sheriff, read the memorial's mission statement at the start of the service. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., the state's lieutenant governor at the time of the bombing, read a congressional resolution commemorating the anniversary.

Prosecutors said McVeigh's plot was an attempt to avenge the deaths of nearly 80 people in the government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and executed in 2001. McVeigh's Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado.

One Year Ago Today... How Time Flies..

(CBS) It was one year ago that Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger landed US Airways flight 1549 safely in New York's Hudson River -- saving 155 lives.

As it flew 3,000 feet over one of the most densely populated areas of the planet, a flock of geese struck the plane, causing it to lose all power. Sullenberger was faced with a possible catastrophe. With brains and courage, the seasoned pilot brought his plane down -- and kept it intact -- on the river's frigid waters.

Sullenberger told CBS' "60 Minutes," "I think, in many ways, as it turned out, my entire life up to that moment had been a preparation to handle that particular moment." In a matter of minutes, the plane was evacuated, and ferry boats and first responders rushed to the scene. Not one person was killed.

The crew and passengers of flight 1549 forged a bond that day that's still strong. And on "The Early Show" Friday, the passengers, crew and first responders came together again one year later to remember the day that truly proved to be a "Miracle on the Hudson." Sullenberger told "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith it feels like much less than a year since it happened. "I feel like I've lived 10 normal lifetimes in this last year," Sullenberger said.

As for reuniting a year later, he said, "It's like the best high school reunion you could imagine. We were just talking about that -- who has come the farthest, who has changed the most. We have so much to be grateful for, and it's absolutely wonderful to once again have a chance to celebrate such a wonderful outcome with this great group of people."

Sullenberger's co-pilot, Jeff Skiles, said he remembers the shock of that day most. However, he said he realized that day just how preparations for emergencies could actually lead to success.

"Both of us got right to work," he said. "We used our training. We used our procedures. We used the experience that we've built up over decades between the two of us to handle the emergency."

First responders Sally Phipps, an American Red Cross volunteer who also responded to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and Capt. Vince Lombardi, of N.Y. Waterways, also appeared on "The Early Show."

Phipps said when she arrived on the scene, she was just grateful that she could give her supplies to survivors.

Lombardi said his first thought when he saw the plane was, "Why is there a jet in the water?" He added his second thought was, "OK, let's go."

Passenger John Howell said the day was a "sequence of miraculous events."

"It's hard to find the words to describe the feeling when you're looking out the window and the engines are on fire or there's no engines at all and you're looking down at the river and you recognize that you were in a situation that's not likely to have a good outcome -- and then a few minutes later, you start to realize, 'Wow, we're going to be all right. We're going to walk away from this.'"

Caylee Anthony Remembered at Vigil

I wish I could've been there to honor that little girl... And that butterfly... That's Caylee's spirit.
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- A small group of people gathered Tuesday to remember Caylee Anthony, whose remains were found in December, on the anniversary of the 2-year-old's disappearance.


At a park in Orlando, Florida, members of a Facebook group formed in Caylee's memory asked Richard Grund to lead the gathering. Grund's son, Jessie, was engaged at one time to the girl's mother, Casey Anthony, who has been charged with Caylee's murder.

Grund told about 30 people gathered under the park pavilion near the children's playground that he believed it was important to remember Caylee in a park and not at the location where her remains were found.

Grund said it was important to hold "a memorial to remember Caylee to mark this day to remember her as a little girl, to remember her joy and laughter."

Caylee Anthony's story played out daily on cable news talk shows and Orlando's local media for the past year.

Grund told the small group the focus needs to be taken off the legal issues and put back on Caylee.

George Anthony, Caylee's grandfather, saw his granddaughter leave his house with her mother, Casey Anthony, for the last time on June 15, 2008. Officials allege Caylee was killed by Casey Anthony a short time later.

Since her arrest in November for murder, Anthony, 23, has remained behind bars in Orlando. The state attorney's office has said it would seek the death penalty against Anthony.

Caylee's whereabouts were a mystery until December 11, when a meter-reader brought out a bag containing a skull from a wooded area behind a home on the same street as the Anthonys.

The meter-reader said he had contacted police three times in August to say he had seen a suspicious bag in the area. A deputy was ultimately fired for not properly searching the area.

The remains were confirmed through DNA testing to be Caylee Anthony.

The case has left an "open wound" in the community, said Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, but he thinks closure will not come until after trial.

At the vigil, Maloney Rousseau came with her 2-year-old granddaughter.

"When I saw those big brown eyes, I was just hooked, Rousseau said regarding Caylee. "I think it's terrible what happened to her."

The group offered a tearful rendition of, "You Are My Sunshine," a song Caylee was heard singing on a video played dozens of times on television and on the Internet.

At the end of the vigil, butterflies were released in memory of murdered and missing children. One butterfly flew and landed on a flower arrangement provided in memory of Caylee Anthony.

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25th Anniversay

Bring On Some LOLs...

Perez has a great sense of humour. Apparently it was Mariah Carey & Nick Cannon's anniversary, and I just love Perez's above comment! Aahhahaha

R.I.P. Always, Lucy..

It was twenty years ago today my idol and love, Lucille Ball, passed away.

We'll forever love you, Lucy. R.I.P.

Somber Memorial Marks Anniversary

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - A memorial has been held to mark the anniversary of the collapse of L'Ambiance Plaza in Bridgeport in 1987 that killed 28 construction workers.

Fifty people marched behind a bagpiper to a memorial Thursday to honor the memory of the workers who died when the apartment structure they were building collapsed and buried them under tons of steel and concrete.

In front of a memorial that bears an engraved image of a man holding a construction hat, event organizers said a prayer and read aloud all the victims' names as a bell pealed 28 times.

The procession followed a short service where state and city officials, labor workers and the public shared memories of the tragic events of April 23, 1987.