Today in History
Today is Sunday, Oct. 9, the 282nd day of 2022. There are 83 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 9, 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
On this date:
In 1888, the public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.
In 1910, a coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 miners dead.
In 1936, the first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.
In 1946, the Eugene O’Neill drama “The Iceman Cometh” opened at the Martin Beck Theater in New York.
In 1962, Uganda won autonomy from British rule.
In 1967, Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was summarily executed by the Bolivian army a day after his capture.
In 1975, Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov (AHN’-dray SAHK’-ah-rawf) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1985, the hijackers of the Achille Lauro (ah-KEE’-leh LOW’-roh) cruise liner surrendered two days after seizing the vessel in the Mediterranean. (Passenger Leon Klinghoffer was killed by the hijackers during the standoff.)
In 2001, in the first daylight raids since the start of U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan, jets bombed the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Letters postmarked in Trenton, New Jersey, were sent to Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy; the letters later tested positive for anthrax.
In 2004, a tour bus from the Chicago area flipped in Arkansas, killing 15 people headed to a Mississippi casino.
In 2006, Google Inc. announced it was snapping up YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in a stock deal.
In 2010, Chile’s 33 trapped miners cheered and embraced each other as a drill punched into their underground chamber where they had been stuck for an agonizing 66 days.
Ten years ago: Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, to 30 to 60 years in prison following his June 2012 conviction on 45 counts of sexual abuse of boys. Future Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousufzai (mah-LAH’-lah yoo-SOOF’-zeye), a 15-year-old Pakistani girl who had dared to advocate education for girls and criticize the Taliban, was shot and seriously wounded by a militant gunman.
Five years ago: Declaring, “The war on coal is over,” EPA chief Scott Pruitt said he would sign a new rule overriding the Clean Power Plan, an effort from the Obama administration to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. ESPN suspended anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks for making political statements on social media; Hill had referred to President Donald Trump as a “white supremacist” in a series of tweets. The bodies of 100-year-old Charles Rippey and his 98-year-old wife Sara were found in the ruins of their Northern California home; they were among the victims of two deadly wildfires in the region.
One year ago: Jonathan Toebbe, a Navy nuclear engineer with access to military secrets, was arrested in West Virginia along with his wife Diana; the Justice Department said Toebbe was charged with trying to pass information about the design of American nuclear-powered submarines to someone he thought represented a foreign government but who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. (The couple withdrew guilty pleas in August 2022 after a judge rejected plea agreements; they are awaiting trial.) Texas A&M stunned top-ranked Alabama 41-38 to end the Crimson Tide’s winning streak at 19 games. California became the first state to say large department stores must display products like toys and toothbrushes in gender-neutral ways.
Today’s Birthdays: Retired MLB All-Star Joe Pepitone is 82. Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is 81. C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb is 81. R&B singer Nona Hendryx is 78. Singer Jackson Browne is 74. Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams is 72. Actor Gary Frank is 72. Actor Richard Chaves is 71. Actor Robert Wuhl is 71. Actor-TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 70. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 69. Actor Scott Bakula is 68. Musician James Fearnley (The Pogues) is 68. Actor John O’Hurley is 68. Writer-producer-director-actor Linwood Boomer is 67. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary is 64. Actor Michael Paré is 64. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 62. Rock singer-musician Kurt Neumann (The BoDeans) is 61. Movie director Guillermo del Toro is 58. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is 56. Singer P.J. Harvey is 53. Movie director Steve McQueen (Film: “12 Years a Slave”) is 53. World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is 52. Actor Cocoa Brown is 50. Country singer Tommy Shane Steiner is 49. Actor Steve Burns is 49. Rock singer Sean Lennon is 47. Actor Randy Spelling is 44. Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae is 43. Actor Brandon Routh is 43. Actor Zachery Ty Bryan is 41. Actor Spencer Grammer is 39. Comedian Melissa Villasenor is 35. Actor Tyler James Williams is 30. Country singer Scotty McCreery (TV: “American Idol”) is 29. Actor Jharrel Jerome is 25.
