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Tag: today in history

  • Today in History: Aug. 6, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

    Today in History: Aug. 6, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

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    Today is Tuesday, Aug. 6, the 219th day of 2024. There are 147 days left in the year.

    Today in history:

    On Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths.

    Also on this date:

    In 1806, Emperor Francis II abdicated, marking the end of the Holy Roman Empire after nearly a thousand years.

    In 1825, Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of Bolivia.

    In 1890, at Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York, William Kemmler became the first person to be executed via electric chair.

    In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

    In 1942, Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint session of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people’s motto remained, “No surrender.”

    In 1945, during World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths.

    In 1962, Jamaica gained independence from the United Kingdom after 300 years of British rule.

    In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting.

    In 1991, the World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the Internet.

    In 2011, insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter during fighting in eastern Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the same elite Navy commando unit that had slain Osama bin Laden; seven Afghan commandos also died.

    Today’s Birthdays: Children’s performer Ella Jenkins is 100. Actor-director Peter Bonerz is 86. Actor Louise Sorel is 84. Actors Michael Anderson Jr. and Ray Buktenica are 81. Actor Dorian Harewood is 74. Actor Catherine Hicks is 73. Singer Pat MacDonald (Timbuk 3) is 72. Actor Stepfanie Kramer is 68. Actor Faith Prince is 67. R&B singer Randy DeBarge is 66. Actor Leland Orser is 64. Actor Michelle Yeoh is 62. Country singers Patsy and Peggy Lynn are 60. Basketball Hall of Famer David Robinson and actor Jeremy Ratchford are 59. Actor Benito Martinez and country singer Lisa Stewart are 56. Movie writer-director M. Night Shyamalan is 54. Actor Merrin Dungey is 53. Singer Geri Halliwell Horner and actor Jason O’Mara are 52. Actor Vera Farmiga is 51. Actor Ever Carradine is 50. Actors Soleil Moon Frye and Melissa George are 48. Rock singer Travis “Travie” McCoy and actor Leslie Odom Jr. are 43. Actor Romola Garai is 42. U.S. Olympic and WNBA basketball star A’ja Wilson is 28.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: July 29, USS Forrestal accident

    Today in History: July 29, USS Forrestal accident

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    Today is Monday, July 29, the 211th day of 2024. There are 155 days left in the year.

    Today in history:

    On July 29, 1967, an accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 service members.

    Also on this date:

    In 1836, the newly-completed Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated in Paris.

    In 1858, the United States and Japan signed the Harris Treaty, formalizing diplomatic relations and trading rights between the two countries.

    In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

    In 1914, transcontinental telephone service in the U.S. became operational with the first test conversation between New York and San Francisco.

    In 1921, Adolf Hitler became the leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party.

    In 1954, the first volume of JRR Tolkien’s novel “The Lord of the Rings” (“The Fellowship of the Ring”) was published.

    In 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency was established.

    In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.

    In 1981, Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a glittering ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. (They divorced in 1996.)

    In 1986, a federal jury in New York found that the National Football League had committed an antitrust violation against the rival United States Football League, but the jury ordered the NFL to pay token damages of just three dollars.

    In 1994, abortion opponent Paul Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and Britton’s escort, James H. Barrett, outside the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida.

    In 1999, a former day trader, apparently upset over stock losses, opened fire in two Atlanta brokerage offices, killing nine people and wounding 13 before shooting himself; authorities said Mark O. Barton had also killed his wife and two children.

    In 2016, former suburban Chicago police officer Drew Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for killing his third wife.

    In 2021, American Sunisa Lee won the gold medal in women’s all-around gymnastics at the Tokyo Games; she was the fifth straight American woman to claim the Olympic title in the event.

    Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-Baker is 92. Former Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole is 88. Artist Jenny Holzer is 74. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, style guru Tim Gunn, singer-musician Geddy Lee (Rush) and singer Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) are 71. Actor Alexandra Paul is 61. Country singer Martina McBride is 58. Actor Wil Wheaton is 52. Singer Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) and actor Stephen Dorff are 51. Actor Josh Radnor is 50. Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 47. NFL quarterback Dak Prescott is 31.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: July 24, Apollo 11 returns home from the moon

    Today in History: July 24, Apollo 11 returns home from the moon

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    The Associated Press

    Today is Wednesday, July 24, the 206th day of 2024. There are 160 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On July 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts — two of whom had been the first humans to set foot on the moon — splashed down safely in the Pacific.

    Also on this date:

    In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate her throne to her 1-year-old son James.

    In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah.

    In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.

    In 1915, the SS Eastland, a passenger ship carrying more than 2,500 people, rolled onto its side while docked at the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River. An estimated 844 people died in the disaster.

    In 1932, the “Bonus Army,” a group of thousands of World War I veterans and their supporters who gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest the US government’s refusal to redeem cash bonus certificates given to the veterans for their service, clashed with D.C. police; two protesting veterans were shot and killed.

    In 1959, during a visit to Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in his famous “Kitchen Debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

    In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon had to turn over subpoenaed White House tape recordings to the Watergate special prosecutor.

    In 1975, an Apollo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific, completing a mission which included the first docking with a Soyuz capsule from the Soviet Union.

    In 2010, a stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans left 21 people dead and more than 500 injured at the famed Love Parade festival in western Germany.

    In 2013, a high-speed train crash outside Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain killed 79 people.

    Today’s Birthdays: Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 88. Actor Dan Hedaya is 84. Actor Chris Sarandon is 82. Actor Robert Hays is 77. Actor Michael Richards is 75. Actor Lynda Carter is 73. Movie director Gus Van Sant is 72. Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is 71. Country singer Pam Tillis is 67. Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone is 61. Retired MLB All-Star Barry Bonds is 60. Actor Kadeem Hardison is 59. Actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth and actor Laura Leighton are 56. Actor-singer Jennifer Lopez is 55. Director Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman”) is 53. Actor Eric Szmanda is 49. Actor Rose Byrne and country singer Jerrod Niemann are 45. Actors Elisabeth Moss and Anna Paquin are 42. Former NHL center Patrice Bergeron is 39. Actor Mara Wilson is 37. TV personality Bindi Irwin is 26.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: July 17, Disneyland’s opening day

    Today in History: July 17, Disneyland’s opening day

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    The Associated Press

    Today is Wednesday, July 17, the 199th day of 2024. There are 167 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California after its $17 million, year-long construction; the park drew a million visitors in its first 10 weeks.

    Also on this date:

    In 1862, during the Civil War, Congress approved the Second Confiscation Act, which declared that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines were to be set free.

    In 1902, Willis Carrier produced a set of designs for what would become the world’s first modern air-conditioning system.

    In 1918, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.

    In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic.

    In 1944, during World War II, 320 men, two-thirds of them African-Americans, were killed when a pair of ammunition ships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California.

    In 1945, following Nazi Germany’s surrender, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II.

    In 1975, an Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit in the first superpower link-up of its kind.

    In 1981, 114 people were killed when a pair of suspended walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a tea dance.

    In 1996, TWA Flight 800, a Europe-bound Boeing 747, exploded and crashed off Long Island, New York, shortly after departing John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 230 people on board.

    In 2014, all 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 were killed when the Boeing 777 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine; both Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists denied responsibility.

    In 2020, civil rights icon John Lewis, whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died at age 80.

    In 2022, a report said nearly 400 law enforcement officials rushed to a mass shooting that left 21 people dead at a Texas elementary school, but “egregiously poor decision-making” resulted in a chaotic scene that lasted more than an hour before the gunman was finally confronted and killed.

    Today’s Birthdays: Sportscaster Verne Lundquist is 84. Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom is 77. Rock musician Terry “Geezer” Butler is 75. Actor Lucie Arnaz is 73. Actor David Hasselhoff is 72. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is 70. Film director Wong Kar-wai is 66. Television producer Mark Burnett is 64. Singer Regina Belle is 61. Country music artist Craig Morgan is 60. Rock musician Lou Barlow is 58. Actor Bitty Schram (TV: “Monk”) is 56. Actor Jason Clarke and movie director F. Gary Gray are 55. Country singer Luke Bryan is 48. Film director/screenwriter Justine Triet is 46. R&B singer Jeremih is 37. Actor Billie Lourd is 32. NHL center Connor Bedard is 19.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: July 11, the fall of Srebrenica

    Today in History: July 11, the fall of Srebrenica

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    The Associated Press

    Today is Thursday, July 11, the 193rd day of 2024. There are 173 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On July 11, 1995, the U.N.-designated “safe haven” of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina fell to Bosnian Serb forces, who subsequently carried out the killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

    Also on this date:

    In 1798, the U.S. Marine Corps was formally re-established by a congressional act that also created the U.S. Marine Band.

    In 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton during a pistol duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. (Hamilton died the next day.)

    In 1859, Big Ben, the great bell inside the famous London clock tower, chimed for the first time.

    In 1864, Confederate forces led by General Jubal Early began an abortive invasion of Washington, D.C., turning back the next day.

    In 1914, Babe Ruth made his Major League baseball debut, pitching the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over Cleveland.

    In 1921, fighting in the Irish War of Independence ended with a truce.

    In 1960, Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” was published.

    In 1972, the World Chess Championship opened as grandmasters Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union began play in Reykjavik, Iceland. (Fischer won after 21 games.)

    In 1979, the abandoned U.S. space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.

    In 1991, a Nigeria Airways DC-8 carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, international airport, killing all 261 people on board.

    In 2006, eight bombs hit a commuter rail network during evening rush hour in Mumbai, India, killing more than 200 people.

    In 2022, President Joe Biden revealed the first image from NASA’s new space telescope, the farthest humanity had ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of the universe and the edge of the cosmos.

    Today’s birthdays: Fashion designer Giorgio Armani is 90. Actor Susan Seaforth Hayes is 81. Actor Bruce McGill is 74. Actor Stephen Lang is 72. Actor Mindy Sterling is 71. Actor Sela Ward is 68. Singers Michael Rose (Black Uhuru) and Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) are 67. Actor Mark Lester and saxophonist Kirk Whalum are 66. Singer Suzanne Vega and guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) are 65. Actor Lisa Rinna is 61. Author Jhumpa Lahiri is 57. Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin is 57. Actor Justin Chambers (TV: “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 54. Actor Michael Rosenbaum (TV: “Smallville”) is 52. Rapper Lil’ Kim is 50. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is 49. Pro Football Hall of Famer Andre Johnson is 43. Pop-jazz singer-musician Peter Cincotti is 41. Actor Serinda Swan is 40. Actor David Henrie is 35. Actor Connor Paolo and tennis player Caroline Wozniacki are 34. R&B/pop singer Alessia Cara is 28.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: June 18, Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space

    Today in History: June 18, Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space

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    Today is Tuesday, June 18, the 170th day of 2024. There are 196 days left in the year. This is Father’s Day.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On June 18, 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride became America’s first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger on a six-day mission.

    On this date:

    In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.

    In 1812, the War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.

    In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte met defeat at Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

    In 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves in a manner that would prompt future generations to say, “This was their finest hour.”

    In 1971, Southwest Airlines began operations, with flights between Dallas and San Antonio, and Dallas and Houston.

    In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

    In 1986, 25 people were killed when a twin-engine plane and helicopter carrying sightseers collided over the Grand Canyon.

    In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Georgia v. McCollum, ruled that criminal defendants could not use race as a basis for excluding potential jurors from their trials.

    In 2003, baseball Hall-of-Famer Larry Doby, who broke the American League’s color barrier in 1947, died in Montclair, New Jersey, at age 79.

    In 2010, death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner died in a barrage of bullets as Utah carried out its first firing squad execution in 14 years. (Gardner had been sentenced to death for fatally shooting attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt from a Salt Lake City courthouse.)

    In 2011, Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player for the E Street Band who was one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen’s life and music, died in Florida at age 69.

    In 2012, former baseball star Roger Clemens was acquitted in Washington, D.C. on all charges that he’d obstructed and lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

    In 2018, President Donald Trump announced that he was directing the Pentagon to create the “Space Force” as an independent service branch.

    In 2020, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants.

    Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 87. Sir Paul McCartney is 82. Actors Constance McCashin and Linda Thorson are 77. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is 74. Actors Isabella Rossellini and Carol Kane are 72. Actor Brian Benben is 68. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 63. Musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) is 61. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 58. Singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) and actor Mara Hobel are 53. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 51. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 49. Actor Alana de la Garza and country singer Blake Shelton are 48. Musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 46. Actor David Giuntoli is 44. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 36. Actor Renee Olstead is 35. Actor Jacob Anderson is 34. Actor Willa Holland is 33.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: May 26, Obama nominates Sotomayor to Supreme Court

    Today in History: May 26, Obama nominates Sotomayor to Supreme Court

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    Today is Sunday, May 26, the 147th day of 2024. There are 219 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    On this date:

    In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure creating the Montana Territory.

    In 1865, Confederate forces west of the Mississippi surrendered in New Orleans.

    In 1938, the House Un-American Activities Committee was established by Congress.

    In 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.

    In 1954, explosions rocked the aircraft carrier USS Bennington off Rhode Island, killing 103 sailors. (The initial blast was blamed on leaking catapult fluid ignited by the flames of a jet.)

    In 1971, Don McLean recorded his song “American Pie” at The Record Plant in New York City (it was released the following November by United Artists Records).

    In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)

    In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

    In 1994, Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married in the Dominican Republic. (The marriage ended in 1996.)

    In 2004, nearly a decade after the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the attack. (Nichols later received 161 consecutive life sentences.)

    In 2009, California’s Supreme Court upheld the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban but said the 18,000 same-sex weddings that had taken place before the prohibition passed were still valid.

    In 2011, Ratko Mladic, the brutal Bosnian Serb general suspected of leading the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, was arrested after a 16-year manhunt. (Mladic was extradited to face trial in The Hague, Netherlands; he was convicted in 2017 on genocide and war crimes charges and is serving a life sentence.)

    In 2020, Minneapolis police issued a statement saying George Floyd had died after a “medical incident,” and that he had physically resisted officers and appeared to be in medical distress; minutes after the statement was released, bystander video was posted online. Protests over Floyd’s death began, with tense skirmishes developing between protesters and Minneapolis police. Four police officers who were involved in Floyd’s arrest were fired.

    In 2022, it was revealed that the gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school was inside for more than an hour before he was killed in a shootout with police. The amount of time that elapsed stirred anger and questions among family members, who demanded to know why authorities did not storm the place and put a stop to the rampage more quickly.

    Today’s Birthdays: Sportscaster Brent Musburger is 85. Musician Garry Peterson (Guess Who) is 79. Singer Stevie Nicks is 76. Actora Pam Grier and Philip Michael Thomas, country singer Hank Williams Jr. and former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn are 75. Actor Margaret Colin is 66. Actor Doug Hutchison is 64. Actor Genie Francis and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait are 62. Singer-actor Lenny Kravitz is 60. Actor Helena Bonham Carter and distance runner Zola Budd are 58. Rock musician Phillip Rhodes is 56. Actor Joseph Fiennesis 54. Singer Joey Kibble (Take 6) and actor-producer-writer Matt Stone are 53. Singer Lauryn Hill is 49. Contemporary Christian musician Nathan Cochran is 46. Actors Elisabeth Harnois and Hrach Titizian are 45.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: May 25, police kill George Floyd

    Today in History: May 25, police kill George Floyd

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    The Associated Press

    Today is Thursday, May 25, the 146th day of 2024. There are 220 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for about 9 1/2 minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and pleading that he couldn’t breathe; Floyd’s death, captured on video by a bystander, would lead to worldwide protests, some of which turned violent, and a reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.

    On this date:

    In 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.

    In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, Abdullah I.

    In 1961, President John F. Kennedy told Congress: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”

    In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, ordered the Virginia county to reopen its public schools, which officials had closed in an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka desegregation ruling.

    In 1968, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

    In 1977, the first “Star Wars” film was released by 20th Century Fox.

    In 1979, 273 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

    In 2008, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander arrived on the Red Planet to begin searching for evidence of water; the spacecraft confirmed the presence of water ice at its landing site.

    In 2011, a judge in Salt Lake City sentenced street preacher Brian David Mitchell to life in prison for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 at the time of her abduction in 2002.

    In 2012, the private company SpaceX made history as its Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station.

    In 2016, actor Johnny Depp’s wife, Amber Heard, filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences after 15 months of marriage.

    In 2018, Harvey Weinstein was charged in New York with rape and another sex felony in the first prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him. (Weinstein would be convicted of two felony counts in 2020, but an appeals court would overturn the conviction in 2024.)

    In 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, the gunman who massacred 19 children and two teachers at an Uvalde elementary school a day earlier, warned in online messages sent minutes before the attack that he had shot his grandmother and was going to shoot up a school.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Ann Robinson is 95. Former White House news secretary Ron Nessen is 90. Actor Sir Ian McKellen is 85. Country singer Jessi Colter and actor-singer Leslie Uggams are 81. Movie director and Muppeteer Frank Oz is 80. Actors Karen Valentine and Jacki Weaver are 77. Singer Klaus Meine (The Scorpions) is 76. Actor Patti D’Arbanville is 73. Playwright Eve Ensler is 71. Musician Cindy Cashdollar and actor Connie Sellecca are 69. Rock singer-musician Paul Weller is 66. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is 64. Actor-comedian Mike Myers is 61. Actor Matt Borlenghi is 57. Actor Joseph Reitman is 56. Rock musician Glen Drover is 55. Actors Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush (TV: “Little House on the Prairie”) and Octavia Spencer, and actor-comedian Jamie Kennedy are 54. Actor Justin Henry is 53. Rapper Daz Dillinger and actor Molly Sims are 51. Actors Erinn Hayes, Cillian Murphy and Ethan Suplee are 48. Rock musician Todd Whitener is 46. Actor Corbin Allred is 45. Actor-singer Lauren Frost is 39. Actor Ebonee Noel is 34. Musician Guy Lawrence (Disclosure) is 33. Olympic gold medal gymnast Aly Raisman is 30.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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  • Today in History: May 24, first night game in Major League Baseball

    Today in History: May 24, first night game in Major League Baseball

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    The Associated Press

    Today is Friday, May 24, the 145th day of 2024. There are 221 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On May 24, 1935, the first Major League Baseball game to be played at night took place at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1.

    On this date:

    In 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse transmitted the message “What hath God wrought” from Washington to Baltimore as he formally opened America’s first telegraph line.

    In 1937, in a set of rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Social Security Act of 1935.

    In 1941, the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser HMS Hood in the North Atlantic, killing all but three of the 1,418 men on board.

    In 1961, a group of Freedom Riders was arrested after arriving at a bus terminal in Jackson, Mississippi, charged with breaching the peace for entering white-designated areas. (They ended up serving 60 days in jail.)

    In 1962, astronaut Scott Carpenter became the second American to orbit the Earth as he flew aboard Aurora 7.

    In 1974, American jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, 75, died in New York.

    In 1976, Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde supersonic transport service to Washington.

    In 1980, Iran rejected a call by the World Court in The Hague to release the American hostages.

    In 1994, four Islamic fundamentalists convicted of bombing New York’s World Trade Center in 1993 were each sentenced to 240 years in prison.

    In 1995, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson died in London at age 79.

    In 2006, “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary about former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign against global warming, went into limited release.

    In 2011, Oprah Winfrey taped the final episode of her long-running talk show.

    In 2017, Ariana Grande suspended her Dangerous Woman world tour and canceled several European shows due to the deadly bombing at her concert in Manchester, England, two days earlier.

    In 2018, Jerry Maren, the last surviving Munchkin from the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” died at a San Diego nursing home; he was 99.

    In 2022, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers. The gunman, Salvador Ramos, a former student at the school, was also killed. It was the deadliest shooting at a U.S. grade school since the attack in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, almost a decade earlier.

    In 2023, Tina Turner died at age 83. She teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor-comedian-impressionist Stanley Baxter is 98. Jazz musician Archie Shepp is 87. Comedian Tommy Chong is 86. Singer Bob Dylan is 83. Actor Gary Burghoff is 81. Singer Patti LaBelle is 80. Actor Priscilla Presley is 79. Country singer Mike Reid is 77. Actor Jim Broadbent is 75. Actor Alfred Molina is 71. Singer Rosanne Cash is 69. Actor Cliff Parisi is 64. Actor Kristin Scott Thomas is 64. Actor John C. Reilly is 59. Actors Dana Ashbrook and Eric Close are 57. Actor Carl Payne and rock musician Rich Robinson are 55. Former MLB pitcher Bartolo Colon is 51. Actor Dash Mihok is 50. Actor Bryan Greenberg is 46. Actors Owen Benjamin and Billy L. Sullivan are 44. Actor-rapper Jerod Mixon (aka Big Tyme) is 43. Musician Cody Hanson (Hinder) is 42. Dancer-choreographer-singer Mark Ballas is 38. Country singer Billy Gilman is 36. Rapper/producer G-Eazy and actor Brianne Howey are 35. Actor Cayden Boyd is 30.

    Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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