Major news events of the year

May 2003

President Bush tours the USS Abraham Lincoln following his dramatic arrival onboard a U.S. Navy S-3B Viking. AP Photo

May 1 - After 16 years on INDIANA'S DEATH ROW, Kevin L. Hough was executed by lethal injection for the 1985 murders of two Fort Wayne men.

May 1 - The Indiana Pacers season ended in shambles, in the first round of the post season, as they dropped Game 6 to Boston 110-90. Indiana won just two games in the best-of-seven series.

May 1 - President Bush, speaking from the deck of the homeward bound USS Abraham Lincoln, declared that the military phase of the war in Iraq was over but that the war on terror would continue.

May 2 - In a brief two sentence statement, United Airlines made official what city officials and United employees already suspected - the maintenance base at Indianapolis International Airport would be permanently closed. Meanwhile, blaming the weak economy and SARS for hindering its recovery, UAL Corp. reported an industry-worst 1st quarter loss of $1.34 billion

May 3 - After 160 days aboard the international space station, three astronauts, including Hoosier KEN BOWERSOX , returned safely to earth in a Russian Soyuz capsule.

May 3 - A record 25,000 runners and walkers participated in the Indianapolis Life 500 Festival Mini-Marathon won by Kenyan Joseph Kariuki.

May 4-10 - A record 384 tornadoes swept across 19 states killing more than 40 people and doing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. At the same time, some of the heaviest rainfall in more than a century swamped parts of the South.

May 5 - U.S. and Iraqi officials reported that under the direct orders of Saddam Hussein, nearly $1 billion was stolen from Iraq's Central Bank in the hours before American bombs began dropping on Baghdad.

May 6 - Amid speculation that he would run for governor, MITCH DANIELS, President Bush's budget director, announced he was leaving Washington to return to Indiana.

May 6 - Making it the most ignored election in Marion County, Ind., history, the municipal primary drew only 9.9 percent of the county's registered voters.

Pierce City, Mo., was one of many locations hit hard by tornadoes that raked the central U.S. KRT Photo

May 6 - After almost 16 months, Kmart Corp. emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

May 7 - Saying that state law clearly defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, an Indiana judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to lift the ban on gay marriages.

May 7 - Following an acrimonious meeting between Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin and Michael Jordan, Jordan was unceremoniously dumped as the Wizards' president of basketball operations.

May 8 - An analysis by the World Health Organization revealed that SARS is more dangerous than experts had previously thought with an overall death rate of about 15 percent - double previous estimates.

May 8 - Because of loans given to four players from 1992-98, The NCAA barred the University of Michigan from NCAA or NIT tournaments in 2004. The sanctions also included loss of a scholarship for four years starting in 2004-05.

May 10 - Thunderstoms and heavy rain cancelled Pole Day for the Indianapolis 500 for the first time in 13 years.

May 10 - Matthew R. Smith, 20, a Marine reservist from Anderson, was killed in a traffic accident in Kuwait.

May 11 - The Bush administration confirmed that, in an effort to quell the post-war violence, Jay Garner, the top civil administrator in Iraq, and other senior officials were being replaced. L. Paul Bremer succeeded Garner.

May 12 - Hours before a visit by Colin Powell, suicide bombers carried out attacks at three housing compounds in Saudi Arabia killing 34 people, including eight Americans.

May 12 - Outside a government compound in northern Chechnya, suicide bombers detonated a truck loaded with explosives. At least 41 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.

May 13 - President George Bush, speaking at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, condemned terrorists and attempted to generate support for his tax cut package. The president, who had arrived in Indianapolis the evening before, also met with a group of senior citizens to discuss their concerns.

May 13-15 - More than 400 Hoosier leaders attended a three-day Indiana Leadership Summit to discuss improving the state's economy and culture.

May 14 - A new report was published in which it was determined that blood pressure levels once considered normal or borderline were too high.

May 15 - Because of the SARS epidemic, China suspended international adoptions indefinitely.

May 16 - Five near-simultaneous terrorist bombings in Casablanca, Morocco killed 29 people and wounded at least 60. Among the targets were the Belgian consultate, a Jewish center and a popular Spanish restaurant.

May 18 - For the first time in 56 years, no one was bumped on "Bump Day" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nine drivers qualified on the last day, rounding out the field for the Indianapolis 500 to the traditional 33 cars.

May 18 - Seven Israelis on a passenger bus in Jerusalem were killed by a Hamas suicide bomber, causing the cancellation of a trip to Washington by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and endangering the U.S.-backed Middle East peace plan.

While in Indianapolis, Michael Jackson visited Circle Center Mall. John Severson / The Star

May 20 - An investigation by The Star found that inmates at the Marion County jail had been fed contaminated food at least 10 times in seven years by Festa Catering.

May 20 - Pop star Michael Jackson arrived in Indianapolis to give a deposition in a lawsuit accusing the Jackson 5 of misrepresenting someone else's work as their own. However, Jackson became ill and left town before testifying.

May 20 - Because of the terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia and Morocco and an increase in "chatter" involving radical groups, the national terror alert level was elevated to orange.

May 20 - Canadian officials acknowledged that a cow in Alberta had been diagnosed with mad cow disease. It was the first known case in a decade in North America and prompted U.S. officials to ban Canadian beef.

May 21 - Amali, the first artifically conceived African elephant in the world, underwent emergency abdominal surgery at the Indianapolis Zoo.

May 21 - Christie Whitman, often at odds with the Bush White House, resigned as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

May 21 - A Florida appeals court threw out the $145 billion tobacco verdict awarded in Dade County in 2000, saying the case should not have been tried as a class-action lawsuit.

May 21 - A powerful earthquake struck Algeria killing more than 1,600 people.

May 22 - The United Nations Security Council voted to end economic sanctions against Iraq and gave the U.S. and Britain authority to govern and use oil revenues to rebuild the country.

May 23 - The chief investigator of the space shuttle COLUMBIA ACCIDENT, said NASA could have launched another shuttle to rescue the astronauts had it realized the severity of the damage early on and decided it was worth the risk to a second ship and crew.

Gil de Ferran celebrates his Indianapolis 500 win. Matt Kryger / The Star

May 23 - Annika Sorenstam, the first woman in 58 years to play in a PGA tournament, missed the cut for the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, by four strokes.

May 25 - Brazilian Gil de Ferran won his first INDIANAPOLIS 500, finishing 0.2990 seconds before teammate Helio Castroneves. Among those in attendance were former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.

May 25 - The Israeli Cabinet narrowly approved an internationally backed "road map" to peace, for the first time recognizing the Palestinians' right to statehood.

May 27 - On the first day of the much hyped Hyperfix project which closed much of the Downtown Indianapolis interstate system, the anticipated traffic tie-ups for commuters did not materialize.

May 27 - The newest study of hormone replacement therapy, found that long-term use doubles the risk of dementia in postmenopausal women.

May 28 - A three-person arbitration panel in Chicago ruled that Donald Trump must sell his stake in the General Motors Building in New York City to CONSECO CORP. for $15.6 million.

May 28 - President Bush signed the third-largest tax cuts in U.S. history. He expressed hope that the 10-year, $350 billion package, although less than half of his original proposal, would revive the economy.

May 29 - Qari Abdul Hai, a suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was arrested in Pakistan.

May 30 - Negotiators for the city of Indianapolis said they are pushing the Indianapolis Colts to sign a long-term lease, possibly 25-years, and that a new stadium would not necessarily be part of the deal.

May 30 - Amid increasing criticism, CIA director George Tenet defended the U.S. intelligence on Iraq's weapons program that the Bush administration used to justify going to war.

May 31 - Eric Robert Rudolph, a suspect in four bombings including the Olympic Park bombings in Atlanta in 1996, was captured in Murphy, North Carolina, following a five-year manhunt.