Today is Monday, Sept. 4, the 247th day of 2017. There are 118 days left in the year. This is Labor Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On September 4, 1917, the American Expeditionary Forces in France suffered their first fatalities during World War I when a German plane attacked a British-run base hospital in Camiers.
On this date:
In 1781, Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers under the leadership of Governor Felipe de Neve.
In 1886, a group of Apache Indians led by Geronimo (also known as Goyathlay, “One Who Yawns”) surrendered to Gen. Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
In 1888, George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film box camera, and registered his trademark: “Kodak.”
In 1948, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated after nearly six decades of rule for health reasons.
In 1951, President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast.
In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used Arkansas National Guardsmen to prevent nine black students from entering all-white Central High School in Little Rock. Ford Motor Co. began selling its ill-fated Edsel.
In 1967, Detroit TV station WKBD aired an interview with Michigan Gov. George Romney in which the Republican presidential hopeful attributed his previous support for the war in Vietnam to a “brainwashing” he’d received from U.S. officials during a 1965 visit.
In 1971, an Alaska Airlines jet crashed near Juneau, killing all 111 people on board.
In 1972, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz won a seventh gold medal at the Munich Olympics in the 400-meter medley relay.
In 1987, a Soviet court convicted West German pilot Mathias Rust of charges stemming from his daring flight to Moscow’s Red Square, and sentenced him to four years in a labor camp. (Rust was released in August 1988.)
In 1998, Internet services company Google filed for incorporation in California.
In 2014, comedian Joan Rivers died at a New York hospital at age 81, a week after going into cardiac arrest in a doctor’s office during a routine medical procedure.
Ten years ago: Hurricane Felix slammed into Nicaragua’s coast, the first time on record that two Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes hit land in the same year. Toy maker Mattel Inc. recalled 800,000 lead-tainted, Chinese-made toys worldwide, a third major recall in just over a month.
Five years ago: Democrats opened their national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, by ridiculing Republican Mitt Romney as a millionaire candidate who “quite simply doesn’t get it”; first lady Michelle Obama lovingly praised her husband as a devoted spouse and caring father at home and a “man we can trust” to revive the nation’s weak economy as president. The Treasury Department reported the national debt had topped $16 trillion.
One year ago: Elevating the “saint of the gutters” to one of the Catholic Church’s highest honors, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa, praising her radical dedication to society’s outcasts and her courage in shaming world leaders for the “crimes of poverty they themselves created.”
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Mitzi Gaynor is 86. Actor Kenneth Kimmins is 76. Singer Merald “Bubba” Knight (Gladys Knight & The Pips) is 75. TV personality and veterinarian Dr. Jan Pol (TV: “The Incredible Dr. Pol”) is 75. World Golf Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd is 75. Actress Jennifer Salt is 73. World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson is 68. Rhythm-and-blues musician Ronald LaPread is 67. Actress Judith Ivey is 66. Rock musician Martin Chambers (The Pretenders) is 66. Actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is 64. Actress Khandi Alexander is 60. Actor-comedian Damon Wayans Sr. is 57. Rock musician Kim Thayil is 57. Actor Richard Speight Jr. is 48. Actor Noah Taylor is 48. Actress Ione (eye-OH’-nee) Skye is 47. Actor-singer James Monroe Iglehart is 43. Pop-rock singer-DJ-musician-producer Mark Ronson is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Richard Wingo (Jagged Edge) is 42. Rock musician Ian Grushka (New Found Glory) is 40. Actor Wes Bentley is 39. Actor Max Greenfield is 38. Singer Dan Miller (O Town) is 37.
Singer Beyonce Knowles is 36. Country singer-musician Tom Gossin (Gloriana) is 36. Actress-comedian Whitney Cummings is 35. Actor-comedian Kyle Mooney (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 33. Folk-rock musician Neyla Pekarek (NEE’-lah peh-KAYR’-ehk) (The Lumineers) is 31. Pop-rock singer-songwriter James Bay is 27. Actor Carter Jenkins is 26. Actor Trevor Gagnon is 22.
Thought for Today: “I am one of the people who love the why of things.” — Catherine the Great, Russian czarina (1729-1796).
