Latest news with #HMSGaspee
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- General
- Boston Globe
Today in History: June 10, Opportunity rover sends last message from Mars
Advertisement In 1772, rebels in Rhode Island looted and set afire the HMS Gaspee in Narragansett Bay after the ship ran aground chasing smugglers. The defiant act was considered one of the sparks igniting the American Revolution. In 1775, 250 years ago, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts set down guidelines for daily provisions for each soldier in the 'Massachusetts army.' Those include: 'One pound of bread : 2d. Half a pound of beef and half a pound of pork; and if pork cannot be had, one pound and a quarter of beef; and one day in seven they shall have one pound and one quarter of salt fish, instead of one day's allowance of meat : 3d. One pint of milk, or, if milk cannot be had, one gill of rice : 4th. One quart of good spruce or malt beer : 5th. One gill of peas or beans, or other sauce equivalent : 6th. Six ounces of good butter per week: 7th. One pound of good common soap for six men per week.' Advertisement In 1854, the Naval Academy held its first graduation ceremony. In 1906, the Mother Church of Christian Science was rededicated in Boston after an expansion tripled its seating capacity to 3,000. In 1940, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared war on France and Great Britain, formally entering Italy into World War II. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at eliminating wage disparities based on gender. In 1967, six days of war in the Mideast involving Israel, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq ended as Israel and Syria accepted a United Nations-mediated cease-fire. In 1977, James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee with six others. He was recaptured three days later. In 1978, racehorse Affirmed, ridden by Steve Cauthen, won the 110th Belmont Stakes to claim the 11th Triple Crown. Alydar, ridden by Jorge Velasquez, finished a close second in each of the Triple Crown races. In 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard of Meyers, Calif., was abducted by Phillip and Nancy Garrido; Dugard was held by the couple for 18 years before she was found by authorities. In 2009, James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist, opened fire in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., killing security guard Stephen T. Johns. (Von Brunn died at a North Carolina hospital in January 2010 while awaiting trial.) Advertisement In 2018, the rover Opportunity sent its last message from the surface of Mars. Originally expected to serve a three-month mission, Opportunity functioned for over 14 years, traveling over 28 miles across Mars and unveiling critical discoveries about the planet's geology. In 2019, former Red Sox star David Ortiz flew to Boston for medical care; he'd undergone surgery in his native Dominican Republic after an ambush by a gunman at a bar. In 2020, protesters pulled down a century-old statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond, Va., the former capital of the Confederacy.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rhode Island's Royal Charter inspires lawmaker's idea for coping with tariff troubles
Rep. Joseph McNamara, a Warwick Democrat, thinks state officials should explore establishing trade agreements with international car manufacturers and creating a free trade zone within the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown, one of the top 10 automobile importers in the U.S. (Photo via Quonset Development Corporation) As the international trade war heats up, one Rhode Island lawmaker is proposing the state invoke its royal charter in order to stave off rising import costs. Rep. Joseph McNamara, a Warwick Democrat, sent a letter to Gov. Dan McKee Wednesday urging him to establish 'free trade zones' under the powers granted to the governor by King Charles II in 1663. The document that established the colony of Rhode Island allowed free trade with colonies throughout the world. 'Our state has a long history of resisting unfair authoritative trade mandates and taxes,' McNamara wrote. 'One only has to reflect back on our 252-year history to be reminded of the action that our early colonists took in 1772 when faced with an unlawful British vessel.' He was referring to the HMS Gaspee, the British revenue schooner assigned to patrol Narragansett Bay that ran aground in Warwick and was plundered and burned by a group of colonists led by merchant John Brown. McNamara suggests that the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation explore establishing trade agreements with international car manufacturers and creating a free trade zone within the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown, one of the top 10 automobile importers in the U.S. Quonset imported 304,593 cars last year, up 27% from 239,761 in 2023, according to figures from the Quonset Development Corporation. He pointed to the new air cargo terminal under construction at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport as an ideal location for duty-free imports and proposed that the Port of Providence be renamed the 'Free Trade Port on the East Coast.' McKee spokesperson Andrea Palagi acknowledged a request for comment, saying that a formal response would be sent from the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. The Commerce Corporation did not immediately respond to an inquiry. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
