Today in History
Today is Friday, Sept. 30, the 274th day of 2016. There are 92 days
left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Sept. 30, 1791,
Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" premiered in Vienna, Austria. On this
date: In 1777, the Continental Congress forced to flee in the face of
advancing British forces moved to York, Pennsylvania. In 1846, Boston
dentist William Morton used ether as an anesthetic for the first time
as he extracted an ulcerated tooth from merchant Eben Frost. In 1915,
the D.H. Lawrence novel "The Rainbow" was published in London by
Methuen & Co. In 1938, after co-signing the Munich Agreement allowing
Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain said, "I believe it is peace for our time. In 1939,
the first college football game to be televised was shown on
experimental station W2XBS in New York as Fordham University defeated
Waynesburg College, 34-7. In 1949, the Berlin Airlift came to an end.
In 1955, actor James Dean, 24, was killed in a two-car collision near
Cholame, California. In 1962, James Meredith, a black student, was
escorted by federal marshals to the campus of the University of
Mississippi, where he enrolled for classes the next day; Meredith's
presence sparked rioting that claimed two lives. In 1966, the Republic
of Botswana became independent from Britain. In 1972, Roberto Clemente
hit a double against John Matlack of the New York Mets during
Pittsburgh's 5-0 victory at Three Rivers Stadium; the hit was the
3,000th and last for the Pirates star. In 1986, the U.S. released
accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Soviets
released American journalist Nicholas Daniloff. In 1997, France's Roman
Catholic Church apologized for its silence during the systematic
persecution and deportation of Jews by the pro-Nazi Vichy regime. Ten
years ago: Five people were killed when an overpass near Montreal
collapsed. Tony Award-winning actress Isabel Bigley died in Los Angeles
at age 80. Five years ago: A U.S. drone airstrike in Yemen killed two
American members of al-Qaida, cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and recruiting
magazine editor Samir Khan. One year ago: Just hours before a midnight
deadline, a bitterly divided Congress approved, and President Barack
Obama signed, a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government
open. Kelly Renee Gissendaner, the only woman on Georgia's death row,
was executed by injection, making her the first woman put to death by
the state in seven decades. (Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the
1997 slaying of her husband after she'd conspired with her lover, who
stabbed Douglas Gissendaner to death.) Prosecutors declined to charge
Caitlyn Jenner in a California car crash the previous February that
killed another driver, Kim Howe, citing insufficient evidence. Today's
Birthdays: Actress Angie Dickinson is 85. Singer Cissy Houston is 83.
Singer Johnny Mathis is 81. Actor Len Cariou is 77. Singer Marilyn
McCoo is 73. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is 71. Pop
singer Sylvia Peterson (The Chiffons) is 70. Actor Vondie Curtis-Hall
is 66. Actress Victoria Tennant is 66. Actor John Finn is 64. Rock
musician John Lombardo is 64. Singer Deborah Allen is 63. Actor Calvin
Levels is 62. Actor Barry Williams is 62. Singer Patrice Rushen is 62.
Actress Fran Drescher is 59. Country singer Marty Stuart is 58. Actress
Debrah Farentino is 57. Rock musician Bill Rieflin (R.E.M.) is 56.
Former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., is 56. Actress Crystal Bernard is
55. Actor Eric Stoltz is 55. Rapper-producer Marley Marl is 54. Country
singer Eddie Montgomery (Montgomery-Gentry) is 53. Rock singer Trey
Anastasio is 52. Actress Monica Bellucci is 52. Rock musician Robby
Takac (TAY'-kak) (Goo Goo Dolls) is 52. Actress Lisa Thornhill is 50.
Actress Andrea Roth is 49. Actor Silas Weir Mitchell is 47. Actor Tony
Hale is 46. Actress Jenna Elfman is 45. Actor Ashley Hamilton is 42.
Actress Marion Cotillard (koh-tee-YAHR') is 41. Actor Stark Sands is
38. Actor Mike Damus is 37. Tennis player Martina Hingis is 36. Olympic
gold medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu (moh-chee-AH'-noo) is 35. Actress
Lacey Chabert (shuh-BEHR') is 34. Actor Kieran Culkin is 34.
Singer-rapper T-Pain is 32. Thought for Today: "Nothing you can't spell
will ever work. Will Rogers, American humorist (1879-1935).
