This Day In History for May 3

1999 - tornadoes roared across Oklahoma and Kansas, killing at least four dozen people and injuring hundreds.

1654 - a bridge in Rowley, Massachusetts, was permitted to charge a toll for animals, while people crossed for free.

1916 - Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.

1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.

1944 - US wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended.

1945 - dian forces captured Rangoon - Burma, from the Japanese.

1948 - the Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups were legally unenforceable.

1971 - anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington DC aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.

1978 - "Sun Day" fell on a Wednesday as thousands of people extolling the virtues of solar energy held events across the country.

1979 - Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher was chosen to become Britain's first female prime minister as the Tories ousted the incumbent Labor government in parliamentary elections.

1986 - in NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.