Today is Wednesday, May 14, the 135th day of 2008. There are 231 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On May 14, 1948, according to the common-era calendar, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv.

On this date

In 1607, English colonists went ashore in Virginia to begin building a permanent settlement, named Jamestown after England’s King James I.

In 1643, Louis the XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis the XIII.

In 1796, English physician Edward Jenner succeeded in inoculating 8-year-old James Phipps against smallpox by using cowpox matter.

In 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left camp near St. Louis.

In 1900, the Olympic games opened in Paris, held as part of the World’s Fair.

In 1942, Congress voted to establish the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps.

In 1942, Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” was first performed, by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

In 1973, the United States launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station.

In 1987, actress Rita Hayworth died in New York at age 68.

In 1988, 27 people, mostly teens, were killed when their church bus collided with a pickup going the wrong way on a highway near Carrollton, Ky. (Truck driver Larry Mahoney served 9½ years in prison for manslaughter.)

Ten years ago

Singer-actor Frank Sinatra died at a Los Angeles hospital at age 82. The hit sitcom “Seinfeld” aired its final episode after nine years on NBC.

Five years ago

Smugglers abandoned more than 100 illegal immigrants in a locked trailer at a Texas truck stop; 19 people died. In Chechnya, a female suicide bombing killed 18 people in an apparent attempt on the life of the Moscow-backed chief administrator, Akhmad Kadyrov. Death claimed actress Dame Wendy Hiller in Beaconsfield, England, at age 90; actor Robert Stack in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 84; and Basketball Hall-of-Famer Dave DeBusschere in New York at age 62.

One year ago

DaimlerChrysler said it was selling almost all of Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 billion, backing out of a troubled 1998 takeover.

Today’s Birthdays

Opera singer Patrice Munsel is 83. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., is 66. Rock singer-musician Jack Bruce (Cream) is 65. Movie producer George Lucas is 64. Actress Meg Foster is 60. Rock singer David Byrne is 56. Movie director Robert Zemeckis is 56. Actor Tim Roth is 47. Rock singer Ian Astbury (The Cult) is 46. Rock musician C.C. (aka Cecil) DeVille is 46. Actor Danny Huston is 46. Rock musician Mike Inez (Alice In Chains) is 42. Fabrice Morvan (ex-Milli Vanilli) is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Raphael Saadiq is 42. Actress Cate Blanchett is 39. Singer Danny Wood (New Kids on the Block) is 39. Movie writer-director Sofia Coppola is 37. Singer Natalie Appleton (All Saints) is 35. Singer Shanice is 35. Rock musician Henry Garza (Los Lonely Boys) is 30. Actress Amber Tamblyn is 25. Actress Miranda Cosgrove is 15.

Thought for Today

“Ah, les bons vieux temps ou nous etions si malheureux!” (Oh, the good old times when we were so unhappy!) — French saying