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Local

May 27, 1990: Betty Kalis of Walters was named Minnesota Postmaster of the Year by the National League of Postmasters. At the time, Kalis was a 25-year veteran of the postal service and postmaster at Bricelyn.

June 1, 1980: Albert Lea Mayor O.H. Hagen and county commissioner Gordon Register addressed the public at the dedication of the new addition to the Freeborn County Historical Society Museum. The Jim Ruble Combo entertained visitors at the event.

May 29, 1980: A tornado struck Freeborn County south of Glenville, and heavy rain, hail and high winds caused widespread damage throughout the southern half of the county. Emmons declared a state of emergency after the storm “demolished” the city’s sewage treatment plant, according to Mayor LeRoy Roberts.

 

National

2019: In his first public remarks on the Russia investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller said charging President Donald Trump with a crime was “not an option” because of federal rules, but he emphasized that the investigation did not exonerate the president.

2018: Harvey Weinstein was charged in New York with rape and another sex felony in the first prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him; the once-powerful movie producer turned himself in to face the charges and was released on $1 million bail after a court appearance. (Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault; he is serving a 23-year prison sentence.)

2015: The Obama administration formally removed Cuba from the U.S. terrorism blacklist.

2010: Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, was seen leaving a hotel room in Lima, Peru, where the body of 21-year-old Stephany Flores was found three days later. (Van der Sloot later confessed to murdering Flores, and is serving a 28-year prison sentence.)

2009: A judge in Los Angeles sentenced music producer Phil Spector to 19 years to life in prison for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

2008: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water; the spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.

The Vatican issued a decree stating that anyone trying to ordain a woman as a priest and any woman who attempted to receive the ordination would incur automatic excommunication.

2004: Nearly a decade after the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the attack. (Nichols later received 161 consecutive life sentences.)

2002: A solemn, wordless ceremony marked the end of the agonizing cleanup at ground zero in New York, 8 1/2 months after 9/11.

May 29, 1988: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened their historic summit in Moscow.

1968: The U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. O’Brien, upheld the conviction of David O’Brien for destroying his draft card outside a Boston courthouse, ruling that the act was not protected by freedom of speech.

1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which officials had closed in an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation ruling.

May 25, 1961: President John F. Kennedy told Congress, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

1959: The U.S. Supreme Court, in State Athletic Commission v. Dorsey, struck down a Louisiana law prohibiting interracial boxing matches. (The case had been brought by Joseph Dorsey Jr., a black professional boxer.)

1943: Norman Rockwell’s portrait of “Rosie the Riveter” appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

1937: President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California.

1935: Babe Ruth hit his last three career home runs — Nos. 712, 713 and 714 — for the Boston Braves in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. (The Pirates won, 11-7.)

1918: American troops fought their first major battle during World War I as they launched an offensive against the German-held French village of Cantigny; the Americans succeeded in capturing the village.

May 28, 1912: The Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a “state of absolute unpreparedness,” improperly tested safety equipment and an “indifference to danger” as some of the causes of an “unnecessary tragedy.”

1883: 12 people were trampled to death in a stampede sparked by a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of collapsing.