Today is Sunday, Oct. 2, the 276th day of 2016. There are 90 days left in the year. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, begins at sunset.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 2, 1941, during World War II, German armies launched an all-out drive against Moscow; Soviet forces succeeded in holding onto their capital.
On this date:
In 1780, British spy John Andre was hanged in Tappan, New York, during the Revolutionary War.
In 1835, the first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers fought Mexican soldiers near the Guadalupe River; the Mexicans ended up withdrawing.
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.
In 1939, the Benny Goodman Sextet (which included Lionel Hampton) made their first recording, “Flying Home,” for Columbia.
In 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.
In 1955, the suspense anthology “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1959, Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” made its debut on CBS-TV.
In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as the court opened its new term.
In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally welcomed Japan’s Emperor Hirohito to the United States during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.
In 1985, actor Rock Hudson, 59, died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, after battling AIDS.
In 1996, an AeroPeru Boeing 757 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 61 passengers and nine crew members on board.
In 2002, the Washington D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks. (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were finally arrested for 10 killings and three woundings; Muhammad was executed in 2009; Malvo was sentenced to life in prison.)
Ten years ago: Charles Carl Roberts IV, a milk truck driver, took a group of girls hostage in an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, fatally shooting five of them before committing suicide. Americans Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the Nobel Prize in medicine. Actress Tamara Dobson died in Baltimore at age 59.
Five years ago: Syrian dissidents formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad’s regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war.
One year ago: President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t sign another temporary government funding bill after the current one expired Dec. 11, insisting that congressional Republicans and Democrats work out a long-term budget deal with the White House. Secretary of Education Arne (AR’-nee) Duncan announced his resignation, which President Obama reluctantly accepted. Irish playwright Brian Friel, 86, died in County Donegal. Former Panamanian President Eric Arturo Delvalle, 78, who was deposed in 1988 after challenging then-dictator Manuel Noriega, died in Cleveland, Ohio.
Today’s Birthdays: Country singer-musician Leon Rausch (Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys) is 89. Retired MLB All-Star Maury Wills is 84. Movie critic Rex Reed is 78. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 71. Cajun/country singer Jo-el Sonnier (sahn-YAY’) is 70. Actor Avery Brooks is 68. Fashion designer Donna Karan is 68. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 67. Rock musician Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike & the Mechanics) is 66. Singer-actor Sting is 65. Actress Robin Riker is 64. Actress Lorraine Bracco is 62. Country musician Greg Jennings (Restless Heart) is 62. Rock singer Phil Oakey (The Human League) is 61. Rhythm-and-blues singer Freddie Jackson is 58. Singer-producer Robbie Nevil is 58. Retro-soul singer James Hunter is 54. Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien is 54. Rock musician Bud Gaugh (Sublime, Eyes Adrift) is 49. Folk-country singer Gillian Welch is 49. Country singer Kelly Willis is 48. Actor Joey Slotnick is 48. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dion Allen (Az Yet) is 46. Actress-talk show host Kelly Ripa (TV: “Live with Kelly”) is 46. Singer Tiffany is 45. Rock singer Lene Nystrom is 43. Actor Efren Ramirez is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer LaTocha Scott (Xscape) is 43. Gospel singer Mandisa (TV: “American Idol”) is 40. Actress Brianna Brown is 37. Rock musician Mike Rodden (Hinder) is 34. Tennis player Marion Bartoli is 32. Actor Christopher Larkin is 29. Rock singer Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) is 28. Actress Samantha Barks is 26. Actress Elizabeth McLaughlin is 23.
Thought for Today: “Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.” — Graham Greene, English writer (1904-1991).
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