Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright.  Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond.  She wrote much of her prose and hackwork verse under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd.  Millay won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her poem "Ballad of the Harp-Weaver"; she was the first woman and second person to win the award.  In 1943, Millay was the sixth person and the second woman to be awarded the Frost Medal for her lifetime contribution to American poetry.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_St._Vincent_Millay    

SS United States is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines.  She is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, earning the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title that remains uncontested.  The ship was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and could have been converted into a troopship if required by the United States Navy in time of war. The ship served as a US icon, transporting celebrities and immigrants throughout her career between 1952 and 1969.  Her design included innovations in steam propulsion, hull form, fire safety, and damage control.  Despite her record speed, passenger counts declined in the mid-1960s due to the rise in jet-propelled trans-Atlantic flights.  Following the financial collapse of United States Lines, United States was withdrawn from service in a surprise announcement in 1969.  All planned cruises were canceled, and the ship changed owners repeatedly for the next several decades.  Every owner attempted to make the ship profitable, but she was aging and poorly maintained.  In 1984, her interior furnishings were sold at auction, and the rest of her interiors were stripped to the bulkheads in 1994.  In 1996, she was towed to Philadelphia, where she remained until February 2025.  Since 2009, the SS United States Conservancy has been raising funds in an attempt to save the ship from being scrapped.  The group purchased her in 2011 and has created several unrealized plans to restore the ship.  Due to a rent dispute, in 2024, the ship was evicted from her pier.  Because no other locations for the ship could be found, Okaloosa County, Florida, bought her and plans to sink her by 2026 near Destin to become the world's largest artificial reef.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States    

151st Kentucky Derby:  Sovereignty, with jockey Junior Alvarado aboard, emerged victorious in 2:02.31 during the first leg of horse racing's 2025 Triple Crown over the 19-horse field, which galloped through thick mud at Churchill Downs after daylong showers on May 3, 3025. 

Sovereignty came out of the 18th gate and went off with the fourth-best odds at 7-1 as the race started.  Journalism, which came in as the favorite at 3-1, placed second with Baeza (13-1 odds) rounding out the top three.  Bob Baffert, appearing in his first Kentucky Derby since 2021 due to suspension, fell short in his bid to become the winningest trainer in Kentucky Derby history as Citizen Bull placed 15th.  Baffert's six Kentucky Derby wins are tied with Ben Jones.  https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/horses/triple/derby/2025/05/03/kentucky-derby-2025-live-updates/83392711007/    

A conclave is the centuries-old election of a pope that derives its name from the Italian “con clave” (with a key) to underscore that cardinals are sequestered until they find a winner.  Unless there are any outstanding questions or problems, cardinals take a single vote the afternoon of May 7, 2025 seeking a two-thirds majority.  If they don't find a winner on the first ballot, they retire for the evening and return to the Sistine Chapel the following morning.  They can take up to two votes each morning, and two each afternoon until they have a winner.  Only cardinals under age 80 are eligible to vote.  Current regulations notionally limit the number of electors to 120, but popes often exceeded that ceiling and today there are 135 who are eligible.  https://www.hjnews.com/world/what-is-a-conclave-what-to-know-about-the-secretive-process-to-elect-the-next/article_56d58cb8-018e-54bb-afa1-e64117b6b570.html    

May 5 is World Portuguese Language Day.  The ministers of culture of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries met for the first time on this date 20 years ago in 2005.  Wiktionary    

On May 5, 1862, Mexican troops repelled French attacks on the city of Puebla de los Ángeles in the Battle of Puebla, also known as the Battle of Cinco de Mayo.  In1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.  In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution.  (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)  In 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7.  In 1973, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories, in a time of 1:59.4 —a record that still stands.  https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/05/05/today-in-history-battle-of-cinco-de-mayo/   

http://librariansmuseblogspot.com  Issue 2938  May 5, 2025