TODAY: Aikido pioneer and Maui police “legend” Shinichi Suzuki died Friday at Maui Memorial Medical Center. He was 92. Suzuki was one of only four people in the world to hold the rank of ninth-degree black belt in the discipline of ki-aikido. He was chosen to help introduce the Japanese martial art to the United States in the 1950s, and became its most pre-eminent teacher in the west. More >

EVENTS ON THIS DAY — May 26th
1521: Martin Luther is declared an outlaw by the Edict of Worms
1647: A Puritan law takes effect barring Catholic priests from entering Massachusetts
1805: Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned king of Italy
1864: The Montana Territory is formed
1868: President Andrew Johnson avoids conviction on impeachment charges by one vote
1896: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is adopted
1896: The last Czar of Russia, Nicholas II, is coronated
1937: San Francisco Bay’s Golden Gate Bridge opens
1938: House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) begins its nefarious work
1948: South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy
1969: John & Yoko begin their 2nd “bed-in” (Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montrael)
1977: The movie “Star Wars” debuts
2004: Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing. (He later received 161 consecutive life sentences.)