By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Today is Monday, May 15, the 135th day of 2023. There are 230 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On May 15, 1948, hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
On this date:
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act establishing the Department of Agriculture.
In 1928, the Walt Disney cartoon character Mickey Mouse made his debut in the silent animated short "Plane Crazy."
In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its unanimous In re Gault decision, ruled that juveniles accused of crimes were entitled to the same due process afforded adults.
In 1970, just after midnight, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two Black students at Jackson State College in Mississippi, were killed as police opened fire during student protests.
In 1972, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot and left paralyzed while campaigning for president in Laurel, Maryland, by Arthur H. Bremer, who served 35 years for attempted murder.
In 1975, U.S. forces invaded the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and captured the American merchant ship Mayaguez, which had been seized by the Khmer Rouge. (All 39 crew members had already been released safely by Cambodia; some 40 U.S. servicemen were killed in connection with the operation.)
In 1988, the Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces entered the country.
In 2000, by a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a key provision of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, saying that rape victims could not sue their attackers in federal court.
In 2007, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who built the Christian right into a political force, died in Lynchburg, Virginia, at age 73.
In 2009, General Motors told about 1,100 dealers their franchises would be terminated.
In 2015, a jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and left more than 250 wounded.
In 2020, President Donald Trump formally unveiled a coronavirus vaccine program he called "Operation Warp Speed," to speed development of COVID-19 vaccines and quickly distribute them around the country. Comedic actor Fred Willard, whose films included "Best In Show" and "Anchorman," died at 86.
Ten years ago: Under mounting pressure, President Barack Obama released a trove of documents related to the Benghazi attack and forced out the top official at the Internal Revenue Service following revelations the agency had targeted conservative political groups. Richard Swanson, a man who planned to dribble a soccer ball from Seattle to Brazil to raise money for charity, was struck and killed by a pickup truck in Oregon.
Five years ago: Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano was suspended for 80 games for violating baseball's drug agreement, becoming one of the most prominent players disciplined under the sport's anti-doping rules. Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was sentenced to four months in prison on charges of leaking classified information related to testimony allegedly disclosed to him illegally five years earlier when he was president and facing challenges from opponents in the legislature.
One year ago: Police said the white 18-year-old who shot and killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket a day earlier had researched the local demographics while looking for places with a high concentration of Black residents, arriving there at least a day in advance to conduct reconnaissance. President Joe Biden urged unity to address the "hate that remains a stain on the soul of America" after a deadly mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading Democrat in the state's high-profile Senate contest, suffered a stroke but his campaign said he was on his way to a full recovery. (Fetterman would defeat Dr. Mehmet Oz in November to win the Senate seat.)
Today's Birthdays: Actor-singer Anna Maria Alberghetti is 87. Counterculture icon Wavy Gravy is 87. Singer Lenny Welch is 85. Actor-singer Lainie Kazan is 81. Actor Gunilla Hutton is 81. Actor Chazz Palminteri is 77. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is 75. Singer-songwriter Brian Eno is 75. Actor Nicholas Hammond (Film: "The Sound of Music") is 73. Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett is 70. Musician-composer Mike Oldfield is 70. Actor Lee Horsley is 68. TV personality Giselle Fernández is 62. Rapper Grandmaster Melle Mel is 62. Actor Brenda Bakke is 60. Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith is 54. Actor Brad Rowe is 53. Actor David Charvet is 51. Actor Russell Hornsby is 49. Rock musician Ahmet Zappa is 49. Olympic gold medal gymnast Amy Chow is 45. Actor David Krumholtz is 45. Rock musician David Hartley (The War on Drugs) is 43. Actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler is 42. Actor Alexandra Breckenridge is 41. Rock musician Brad Shultz (Cage the Elephant) is 41. Rock musician Nick Perri is 39. Tennis player Andy Murray is 36.