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The restoration of the Everglades is an ongoing effort to remedy damage inflicted on the environment of southern Florida during the 20th century. As of 2009, it is the most expensive and comprehensive environmental repair attempt in history. The degradation of the Everglades became an issue in the United States in the early 1970s after a proposal to construct a jetport in the Big Cypress Swamp. Studies indicated the jetport would have destroyed the ecosystem in South Florida and Everglades National Park. After decades of destructive practices, both state and federal agencies are looking for ways to balance the needs of the natural environment in South Florida with urban and agricultural centers that have recently and rapidly grown in the Everglades. When high levels of phosphorus and mercury were discovered in these waterways in 1986, water quality became a focus for water management agencies. Costly and lengthy court battles were waged between various government entities to determine who was responsible for monitoring and enforcing water quality standards. A strategy called the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan was attached to restore portions of the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River, and Florida Bay to undo the damage of the past 50 years. It would take 30 years and cost $7.8 billion to complete. Though the plan was passed into law in 2000, it has been compromised by politics and funding problems. (more...)

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May 8: Pesach Sheni (Judaism, 2009); Victory in Europe Day; World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day

• 1541 – The expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto became the first documented Europeans to reach the Mississippi River.
• 1794 – The Reign of Terror: Branded a traitor, French chemist and economist Antoine Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.
• 1886 – In Atlanta, Georgia, American pharmacist John Pemberton first sold his carbonated beverage Coca-Cola (pictured) as a patent medicine, claiming that it cured a number of diseases.
• 1945 – Most armed forces under German control ceased active operations by 23:01 CET at the end of World War II in Europe, in accordance with the German Instrument of Surrender signed by General Alfred Jodl on behalf of Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz the day before.
• 1963 – Soldiers of the Catholic South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists who were defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine.

• More events: May 7 – May 8 – May 9

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