Today is Monday, Oct. 24, the 298th day of 2016. There are 68 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 24, 1962, a naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect during the missile crisis.
On this date:
In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England’s King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia (west-FAY’-lee-uh) ended the Thirty Years War and effectively destroyed the Holy Roman Empire.
In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., over a line built by the Western Union Telegraph Co.
In 1936, the short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benet was published in The Saturday Evening Post.
In 1939, DuPont began publicly selling its nylon stockings in Wilmington, Delaware. Benny Goodman and His Orchestra recorded their signature theme, “Let’s Dance,” for Columbia Records in New York.
In 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.
In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Detroit, “I shall go to Korea” as he promised to end the conflict. (He made the visit over a month later.)
In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who’d broken Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.
In 1980, the merchant freighter SS Poet departed Philadelphia, bound for Port Said (sah-EED’), Egypt, with a crew of 34 and a cargo of grain; it disappeared en route and has not been heard from since.
In 1991, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry died in Santa Monica, California, at age 70.
In 1996, TyRon Lewis, 18, a black motorist, was shot to death by police during a traffic stop in St. Petersburg, Florida; the incident sparked rioting. (Officer James Knight, who said that Lewis had lurched his car at him several times, knocking him onto the hood, was cleared by a grand jury and the Justice Department.)
In 2002, authorities apprehended Army veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Maryland, in the Washington-area sniper attacks. (Malvo was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.)
Ten years ago: American officials unveiled a timeline for Iraq’s Shiite-led government to take specific steps to calm Baghdad and said more U.S. troops might be needed to quell the bloodshed. The St. Louis Cardinals gained a 2-1 World Series edge as they defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-0. (Before Game 3 began, baseball players and owners finalized a five-year collective bargaining agreement.)
Five years ago: President Barack Obama offered mortgage relief to hundreds of thousands of Americans during a visit to Las Vegas. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, visiting Yokota Air Base in Japan, lashed out at North Korea for “reckless and provocative” acts and criticized China for a secretive expansion of its military power. The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 for a 3-2 World Series edge.
One year ago: A motorist plowed into a crowd during the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade, killing four people and injuring dozens more; Adacia Chambers has pleaded not guilty to four counts of second-degree murder. In a video released on Facebook, President Barack Obama called for capping standardized testing at 2 percent of classroom time, saying, “Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble.” Actress Maureen O’Hara, 95, died in Boise, Idaho.
Today’s Birthdays: Football Hall-of-Famer Y.A. Tittle is 90. Rock musician Bill Wyman is 80. Actor F. Murray Abraham is 77. Movie director-screenwriter David S. Ward is 71. Actor Kevin Kline is 69. Former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume (kwah-EE’-see oom-FOO’-may) is 68. Country musician Billy Thomas (Terry McBride and the Ride) is 63. Actor Doug Davidson is 62. Actor B.D. Wong is 56. Actor Zahn McClarnon is 50. Singer Michael Trent (Americana duo Shovels & Rope) is 39. Rock musician Ben Gillies (Silverchair) is 37. Singer-actress Monica Arnold is 36. Actress-comedian Casey Wilson is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Adrienne Bailon (3lw) is 33. Actor Tim Pocock is 31. R&B singer-rapper-actor Drake is 30. Actress Shenae Grimes is 27. Actress Eliza Taylor is 27. Olympic gold medal gymnast Kyla Ross is 20. Actor Hudson Yang is 13.
Thought for Today: “There are three things which the public will always clamor for, sooner or later: namely, Novelty, novelty, novelty.” — Thomas Hood, British poet (1799-1845).
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