• Today is Monday, April 30, the 121st day of 2012. There are 245 days left in the year.
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• Today's Highlight in History:
• On April 30, 1812, Louisiana (formerly the Territory of Orleans) became the 18th state of the Union.
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• On this date:
• In 1789, George Washington took office in New York as the first president of the United States.
• In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.
• In 1900, engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a train wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in a successful effort to save the passengers.
• In 1911, a fire broke out in Bangor, Maine, destroying much of the downtown area before it was brought under control the next morning; two deaths were blamed on the blaze.
• In 1912, Universal Studios had its beginnings as papers incorporating the Universal Film Manufacturing Co. were filed and recorded in New York State.
• In 1939, the New York World's Fair officially opened with a ceremony that included an address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• In 1945, as Russian troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.
• In 1958, the American Association of Retired Persons (later simply AARP) was founded in Washington, D.C.
• In 1968, New York City police forcibly removed student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.
• In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, along with Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean.
• In 1980, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicated; she was succeeded by her daughter, Princess Beatrix.

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