Today in history
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 31, the 365th and final day of 2014.
Today’s Highlight
in History:
On Dec. 31, 1904, New York’s Times Square saw its first New Year’s Eve celebration, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance.
On this date:
In 1514, physician Andreas Vesalius, who wrote and illustrated the first comprehensive books on human anatomy, was born in Brussels.
In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed.
In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
In 1909, the Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was officially opened to vehicular traffic.
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
In 1951, the Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.
In 1969, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was shot to death with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania, home by hitmen acting at the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.
In 1972, Major League baseball player Roberto Clemente, 38, was killed when a plane he’d chartered and was traveling on to bring relief supplies to earthquake-devastated Nicaragua crashed shortly after takeoff from Puerto Rico.
In 1974, private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.
In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, and six other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year’s Eve performance in Dallas.
In 1986, 97 people were killed when fire broke out in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty in connection with the blaze.)
In 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation (he was succeeded by Vladimir Putin).
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush pledged $350 million to help tsunami victims, and didn’t rule out sending even more U.S. aid to help people recover from what he called an “epic disaster.” Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych resigned, admitting he had little hope of reversing the presidential election victory of his Western-leaning rival, Viktor Yushchenko. Taiwan celebrated the official opening of what was then the world’s tallest skyscraper, known as “Taipei 101.”
Five years ago: A lone gunman dressed in black killed five people in Espoo, Finland, four of them at a crowded shopping mall, before returning home and taking his own life.
One year ago: Only hours before the law was to take effect, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, acting on a request from an organization of Catholic nuns in Denver, blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama’s health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that included birth control. Character actor James Avery, who’d played the Honorable Philip Banks in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” died in Glendale, California, at age 68. Radio host Bob Grant, 84, died in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
Today’s Birthdays: TV producer George Schlatter is 85. Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is 77. Actor Tim Considine (TV: “My Three Sons”) is 74. Actress Sarah Miles is 73. Rock musician Andy Summers is 72. Actor Sir Ben Kingsley is 71. Producer-director Taylor Hackford is 70. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg is 68. Actor Tim Matheson is 67. Pop singer Burton Cummings is 67. Actor Joe Dallesandro is 66. Rock musician Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith) is 63. Actor James Remar is 61. Actress Bebe Neuwirth is 56. Actor Val Kilmer is 55. Singer Paul Westerberg is 55. Actor Don Diamont is 52. Rock musician Ric Ivanisevich (Oleander) is 52. Rock musician Scott Ian (Anthrax) is 51. Actress Gong Li is 49. Author Nicholas Sparks is 49. Actor Lance Reddick is 45. Pop singer Joe McIntyre is 42. Rock musician Mikko Siren (Apocalyptica) is 39. Rapper PSY (Park Jae-sang) is 37. Rock musician Bob Bryar is 35. Actor/singer Erich Bergen (Film/stage: “Jersey Boys”) is 29. Olympic gold medal gymnast Gabby Douglas is 19.
Thought for Today: “Though the past haunt me as a spirit, I do not ask to forget.” – Felicia Dorothea Browne Hemans, English poet (1793-1835).
Today in History
By The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 24, the 358th day of 2014. There are seven days left in the year. This is Christmas Eve.
Today’s Highlights in
History:
On Dec. 24, 1914, during World War I, impromptu Christmas truces began to take hold along parts of the Western Front between British and German soldiers who, in some cases, exchanged gifts and even played soccer with each other. Conservationist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, died in Los Angeles at age 76.
On this date:
In 1524, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama – who had discovered a sea route around Africa to India – died in Cochin, India.
In 1814, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 following ratification by both the British Parliament and the U.S. Senate.
In 1851, fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes.
In 1871, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Aida” had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt.
In 1939, Pope Pius XII delivered a Christmas Eve address in which he offered a five-point program for peace and denounced “premeditated aggressions.”
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe as part of Operation Overlord.
In 1951, Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” the first opera written specifically for television, was first broadcast by NBC-TV.
In 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve telecast.
In 1974, Cyclone Tracy began battering the Australian city of Darwin, resulting in widespread damage and causing some 65 deaths.
In 1984, actor Peter Lawford, 61, died in Los Angeles.
In 1994, militants hijacked an Air France Airbus A-300 at the Algiers airport; three passengers were slain during the siege before all four hijackers were killed by French commandos in Marseille two days later.
In 1999, five hijackers seized an Indian Airlines jet, forcing the aircraft on a journey across South Asia and into the Middle East.
Today in History
Today is Monday, Dec. 22, the 356th day of 2014. There are nine days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in
History:
On Dec. 22, 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, U.S. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing “Nuts!” in his official reply.
On this date:
In 1775, Esek Hopkins was appointed the commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy.
In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman said in a message to President Abraham Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah.”
In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. (Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.)
In 1910, a fire lasting more than 26 hours broke out at the Chicago Union Stock Yards; 21 firefighters were killed in the collapse of a burning building.
In 1937, the first, center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River was opened to traffic. (The second tube opened in 1945, the third in 1957.)
In 1944, former silent film comedian Harry Langdon (once considered a rival to Charles Chaplin) died in Los Angeles at age 60.
In 1968, Julie Nixon married David Eisenhower in a private ceremony in New York.
In 1977, three dozen people were killed when a 250-foot-high grain elevator at the Continental Grain Company plant in Westwego, Louisiana, exploded.
In 1984, New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot and wounded four youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about to rob him.
In 1989, Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, the last of Eastern Europe’s hard-line Communist rulers, was toppled from power in a popular uprising. Playwright Samuel Beckett died in Paris at age 83.
In 1992, a Libyan Boeing 727 jetliner crashed after a midair collision with a MiG fighter, killing all 157 aboard the jetliner, and both crew members of the fighter jet.
In 2001, Richard C. Reid, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, tried to ignite explosives in his shoes, but was subdued by flight attendants and fellow passengers. (Reid is serving a life sentence in federal prison.)
Ten years ago: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, stung by criticism that he’d been insensitive to the needs of troops and their families, offered an impassioned defense, saying when he would meet wounded soldiers or relatives of those killed in battle, “their grief is something I feel to my core.” Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi received a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to assault, more than nine months after slugging Colorado forward Steve Moore from behind during a game.
Five years ago: Assailants gunned down the mother, aunt and siblings of a Mexican marine who was killed in a raid that took out one of Mexico’s most powerful cartel leaders. Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh became the first defensive player voted The Associated Press College Football Player of the Year.
One year ago: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian oligarch who’d crossed President Vladimir Putin and ended up in jail for 10 years, told a press conference in Berlin that he planned to devote his life to securing the release of the country’s political prisoners.
Today in History
Today is Monday, Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2014. There are 16 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On Dec. 15, 1944, the U.S. Senate approved the promotions of Henry H. Arnold, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and George C. Marshall to the five-star rank of General of the Army and the nominations of William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King and Chester W. Nimitz as Admirals of the Fleet. U.S. forces invaded Mindoro Island in the Philippines, encountering little resistance from the Japanese. A single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.
On this date:
In 1791, the Bill of Rights went into effect following ratification by Virginia.
In 1814, the “Hartford Convention” began as New England Federalists opposed to the War of 1812 secretly gathered in the Connecticut capital. (America’s victory in the Battle of New Orleans and the war’s end effectively discredited the Convention.)
In 1864, the two-day Battle of Nashville began during the Civil War as Union forces commanded by Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas attacked Confederate troops led by Gen. John Bell Hood; the result was a resounding Northern victory.
In 1890, Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, South Dakota, during a confrontation with Indian police.
In 1938, groundbreaking for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington, D.C. with President Franklin D. Roosevelt taking part in the ceremony.
In 1939, the Civil War motion picture epic “Gone with the Wind,” starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, had its world premiere in Atlanta.
In 1964, Canada’s House of Commons approved dropping the country’s “Red Ensign” flag in favor of a new design, the “Maple Leaf” flag.
In 1965, two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6A and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within 10 feet of each other while in orbit.
In 1974, the horror spoof “Young Frankenstein,” starring Gene Wilder and directed by Mel Brooks, was released by 20th Century Fox.
In 1989, a popular uprising began in Romania that resulted in the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
In 1991, an Egyptian-registered ferry, the Salem Express, hit a reef and sank in the Red Sea; at least 470 people died, although some estimates are much higher.
In 2001, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy, was reopened to the public after a $27 million realignment that had dragged on for over a decade.
Ten years ago: Time Warner Inc. agreed to pay over $500 million to resolve federal securities fraud and accounting investigations of its America Online unit. American telecommunications giants Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. announced they would merge in a $35 billion deal. Pauline Gore, mother of former Vice President Al Gore, died in Carthage, Tennessee; she was 92. The boxing drama “Million Dollar Baby,” starring Clint Eastwood (who also directed) and Hilary Swank, was put in limited release by Warner Bros.
Five years ago: World leaders formally opened a U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen. The Washington, D.C. City Council voted to legalize same-sex marriage. Boeing’s new 787 “Dreamliner” jet went on its long-delayed first test flight, lifting off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington. Evangelist Oral Roberts died in Newport Beach, California, at age 91.
One year ago: Nelson Mandela was laid to rest in his childhood hometown, ending a 10-day mourning period for South Africa’s first black president. Michelle Bachelet easily won Chile’s presidential runoff. Academy Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine, 96, died in Carmel, California. Harold Camping, 92, a California preacher who’d used his radio ministry and thousands of billboards to broadcast the end of the world and then gave up when his date-specific doomsdays did not come to pass, died in Oakland, California.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor-comedian Tim Conway is 81. Singer Cindy Birdsong (The Supremes) is 75. Rock musician Dave Clark (The Dave Clark Five) is 72. Rock musician Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge) is 68. Actor Don Johnson is 65. Actress Melanie Chartoff is 64. Movie director Julie Taymor is 62. Movie director Alex Cox is 60. Actor Justin Ross is 60. Rock musician Paul Simonon (The Clash) is 59. Movie director John Lee Hancock (Film: “Saving Mr. Banks”; “The Blind Side”) is 58. DNC Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile is 55. Country singer Doug Phelps (Brother Phelps; Kentucky Headhunters) is 54. Movie producer-director Reginald Hudlin is 53. Actress Helen Slater is 51. Actress Molly Price is 49. Actor Michael Shanks is 44.
Thought for Today: “Silence is more musical than any song.” – Christina Rossetti, British poet (1830-1874).
Records
Sierra Nevada records snowiest day of season from brief but potent California storm
TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — A weekend spring storm that drenched the San Francisco Bay area and closed Northern ...
Today in History: May 7, Nazi Germany surrenders
Weather
Floodwaters start receding around Houston area as recovery begins following rescues and evacuations
By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press HOUSTON — Floodwaters in the Houston area began to recede on Monday, ...
Today in History
Frank Stella, artist renowned for blurring lines between painting, sculpture, dies at 87
NEW YORK (AP) — Frank Stella, a painter, sculptor and printmaker whose constantly evolving works are hailed as ...