GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS MONDAY, April 27, the 117th day of 2015 with 248 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 5:45 and sunset is @ 7:38. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Mercury, Neptune & Saturn. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1773 – The British Parliament passed the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the East India Company and grant it a monopoly on the American tea trade.
1805 – After marching 500 miles from Egypt, a small force of U.S. Marines and Berber mercenaries entered Derna, Tripoli, captured it and deposed Yusuf Karamanli, the ruling pasha.
1861 – West Virginia seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union.
1865 – Just after the Civil War ended, the Sultana, a steam-powered riverboat, exploded and burned, killing more than 1400 passengers — mostly former Union POWs.
1880 – Francis Clarke and M.G. Foster patented the electrical hearing aid.
1961 – Sierra Leone became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth.
1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
1992 – Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics won entry into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
2005 – The Airbus A380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.
2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.