Heinz crash 20 years ago today

April 4 trembles with history for Pittsburgh and the nation.

We've already mentioned the new memorial for the three officers killed in 2009 -- today is also the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, which is being remembered in day of protests by union members nationwide.

It is also the 20th anniversary of the death of U.S. Sen. H. John Heinz III. Heinz, 52, of Pittsburgh, and six other people died in a midair crash between his plane and a helicopter over an elementary school in suburban Philadelphia on April 4, 1991. (Among those killed were two first-grade girls playing at recess.)

Here's a Google News Archives link to the Post-Gazette's coverage on April 5, 1991, with a political remembrance by the PG's political editor (and fellow Early Returns scribe) Jim O'Toole. Plenty of other current and ex PG bylines are within the coverage, with stories by Mark Belko, Tom Waseleski, Cristina Rouvalis, Jack Torry, Mike Bucsko, Mackenzie Carpenter and -- with the lede-all on the crash -- Gary Tuma.

UPDATE: A fresh look at the Heinz legacy from Heinz Family Philanthropies president Jeffrey Lewis and former Heinz legislative director Richard Bryers.

Here's the top of Jim's story. Click for a bigger version.

(H/t Steve Miskin, PG librarian Angelika Kane)