By The Associated Press
                  - Today is Saturday, May 1, the 121st day of 1999. There are 244 days
                    left in the year.

                  - On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2
                    reconnaissance plane near Sverdlovsk and captured its pilot, Francis
                    Gary Powers.
                  - In 1786, Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" premiered in
                    Vienna.
                  - In 1884, construction began on the first skyscraper, a 10-story
                    structure in Chicago built by the Home Insurance Co. of New York.
                  - In 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition was officially opened in
                    Chicago by President Cleveland.
                  - In 1898, Commodore George Dewey gave the command, "You may fire when
                    you are ready, Gridley," as an American naval force destroyed a
                    Spanish fleet in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
                  - In 1931, New York's 102-story Empire State Building was dedicated.
                  - In 1931, singer Kate Smith began her long-running radio program on
                    CBS.
                  - In 1941, the Orson Welles motion picture "Citizen Kane" premiered in
                    New York.
                  - In 1948, the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was
                    proclaimed.
                  - In 1967, Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.
                  - In 1971, Amtrak - which combined and streamlined the operations of
                    18 intercity passenger railroads - went into service.
                  - Ten years ago: The Supreme Court ruled an employer has the legal
                    burden of proving that its refusal to hire or promote someone is
                    based on legitimate and not discriminatory reasons.
                  - Five years ago: Israeli and PLO delegates opened a final round of
                    talks in Cairo, Egypt, on Palestinian autonomy prior to the signing
                    of an agreement on self-rule.
                  - One year ago: Eldridge Cleaver, the fiery Black Panther leader who
                    later renounced his past and became a Republican, died in Pomona,
                    Calif., at age 62. Former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda
                    pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the 1994 genocide of more
                    than 500,000 Tutsis.

                  *Happy Birthday*
                  - Actor Glenn Ford is 83.
                  - TV personality Jack Paar is 81.
                  - Actor Dan O'Herlihy is 80.
                  - Author Joseph Heller is 76.
                  - Former astronaut Scott Carpenter is 74.
                  - Country singer Sonny James is 70.
                  - Singer Judy Collins is 60.
                  - Actor Stephen Macht is 57.
                  - Singer Rita Coolidge is 54.
                  - Actor-director Douglas Barr is 50.
                  - Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Jr. is 45.
                  - Former jockey Steve Cauthen is 39.
                  - Country singer Wayne Hancock is 34.