1. Today in History Word of the Day April 2011

2. April 1 st : 1999 A New Jersey man was arrested and charged with originating the "Melissa" e- mail virus Importance- it infected more than 1 million computers worldwide. BEHOOVE (verb) Be appropriate or necessary.

3. April 4 th : 1968 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was killed in Memphis, Tennessee. Importance- the civil rights movement lost one of their most important leaders. GENTILITY (noun) Elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression.

4. April 5 th : 2009 President Barack Obama, visited Prague to launch an effort to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Importance: Obama called them “the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War”. FACILE (adj) 1.performing without effort. 2. expressing oneself readily, clearly, effectively.

5. April 6 th : 1830 1830 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized by Joseph Smith in Fayette, N.Y. Importance: the Mormon Church under the leadership of Brigham Young later settled in Utah. CODIFY (verb) Organize into a code or system, such as a body of law.

6. April 7 th : 1927 An audience in New York watched an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in Washington, D.C. Importance: this was the first successful long-distance demonstration of television. CORPULENT (adj) Excessively fat.

7. Apirl 8 th : 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Importance: Parks became the first African American woman to win that award. MYRIAD (adj) 1. Consisting of a very great number. 2. Composed of many diverse elements.

8. April 11 th : 1980 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors. Importance: this was considered an important victory for working women. INVALIDATE (verb) make invalid or ineffective.

9. April 12 th : 1861 Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Importance: this was the start of the Civil War. PRY (verb) 1. to move or force, especially in an effort to get something open. 2. search or inquire in a meddlesome way.

10. April 13 th : 1999 Jack Kervorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, Mich., to 10-25 years in prison for the 2nd-degree murder of a man whose suicide was shown on 60 Minutes in 1998. Importance: Kervorkian perormed “assisted suicides” of terminally ill persons. CANDOR (noun) 1. ability to make judgments free from discrimination or dishonesty. 2. being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech.

11. April 14 th : 1854 President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. Importance: he died the next day and Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. DISPARITY (noun) Inequality or difference in some respect.

12. April 15 th : 1986 The United States launched an air raid against Libya in response to the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin on April 5 Importance: Libya said 37 people, mostly civilians, were killed. CUMULATIVE (adj) Increasing over time.

13. April 26 th : 1986 An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union, sending radioactivity into the air and killing 31 people instantly. Importance: this was the world’s worst nuclear accident. CORROSIVE (adj/noun) adjective: spitefully sarcastic. noun: a substance having the ability to destroy or eat away by chemical action.

14. April 27 th : 2006 Construction began on the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. Importance: construction is scheduled to be finished for the 10-year anniversary in September 2011. PENANCE (noun) 1. a Catholic sacrament. 2. voluntary self- punishment in order to makeup for some wrongdoing. 3. feeling badly for past behavior.

15. April 28 th : 2001 A Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia with California businessman Dennis Tito onboard. Importance: he was the first “space tourist”. MOTILITY (noun) 1. ability to move spontaneously and independently.

16. April 29 th : 1992 Rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four LA police officers of almost all charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. Importance: 54 people were killed and $1 billion of damage were done to the city. VISCERAL (adj) 1. relating to or affecting the internal organs. 2. obtained through intuition rather than from reasoning or observation.