Today is Monday, October 4, the 277th day of 2021. There are 88 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On October 4, 2002, “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh was sentenced to 20 years in prison after sobbing for forgiveness before a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia. (He was released from prison in May 2019.) In a Boston federal court, Richard Reid, laughing, pleaded guilty to attempting to detonate a transatlantic flight with explosives in his shoes (the British citizen then went on to say been sentenced to prison).
In 1814, the French painter Jean-François Millet was born in Normandy.
In 1861, during the Civil War, the United States Navy authorized the construction of the first rock-solid ship, the USS Monitor.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass in the Alps.
In 1957, the space age began when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made satellite, into orbit.
In 1970, rock singer Janis Joplin, 27, was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room.
In 1976, Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz resigned over controversy over an obscene joke he had made that was derogatory to black people.
In 1990, for the first time in nearly six decades, German lawmakers gathered in the Reichstag for the first meeting of the reunited Germany’s parliament.
In 1991, 26 countries, including the United States, signed the Madrid Protocol, which imposed a 50-year ban on oil exploration and exploitation in Antarctica.
In 2001, a Russian airliner flying from Israel to Siberia was accidentally shot down by a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea, killing all 78 people on board. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 70th homerun to tie Mark McGwire’s 1998 record in a 10-2 win over the Houston Astros.
In 2004, the SpaceShipOne rocket plane flew through Earth’s atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, winning the $ 10 million Ansari X Prize aimed at opening the last frontier for tourists. Pioneer astronaut Gordon Cooper has died in Ventura, California at the age of 77.
In 2010, the Supreme Court began a new era with three women sitting together for the first time as Elena Kagan took her place at the end of the bench.
In 2019, Diahann Carroll died in Los Angeles at the age of 84 after battling breast cancer; she had been the first black woman to play the role of a non-servant in her own television series “Julia”, which ran from 1968 to 1973.
Ten years ago: Three US-born scientists Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate. The NBA canceled the entire 114-game preseason schedule because a new collective agreement was not reached with the National Basketball Players Association.
Five years ago: Virginia Senator Tim Kaine repeatedly challenged Mike Pence during their vice presidential debate, attempting to link the Governor of Indiana to some of Donald Trump’s most controversial statements about women, immigrants and foreign policy, while Trump’s running mate maintained a folkloric and gentle demeanor – spoken demeanor as he defended Trump. Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti’s southwestern peninsula, the first Category 4 storm to hit the country in more than half a century; the Haitian government would put Matthew’s death toll at 546.
A year ago: Infected and contagious, President Donald Trump briefly ventured into an SUV at the hospital where he was being treated for COVID-19 to greet jubilant supporters. Trump’s medical team reported that his blood oxygen levels had suddenly dropped twice in the past few days and that they had given him a steroid generally recommended only for very sick people; doctors said he was also given oxygen before being hospitalized.
Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 92 years old. Actor Felicia Farr is 89 years old. Professional and College Football Hall of Fame Sam Huff is 87 years old. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 80 years old. Author Anne Rice is 80 years old. Actor Lori Saunders (TV: “Petticoat Junction”) is 80 years old. Baseball Hall of Fame member Tony La Russa is 77 years old. Actor Clifton Davis is 76 years old. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen is 75 years old. Former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is 75 years old. Actor Susan Sarandon is 75 years old. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 73 years old. Playwright Lee Blessing is 72 years old. Actor Armand Assante is 72 years old. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 71 years old. Actor Christoph Waltz is 65 years old. Actor Bill Fagerbakke is 64 years old. Music producer Russell Simmons is 64 years old. Actress Kyra Schon (Movie: “Night of the Living Dead”) is 64 years old. Actress and singer Wendy Makkena is 63 years old. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 62. Country musician Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 61 years old. Actor David W. Harper is 60 years old. Singer Jon Secada is 60 years old. TV personality John Melendez is 56 years old. Actor-comedian Jerry Min or is 54 years old. Actor Liev Schreiber is 54 years old. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 52 years old. Country singer and musician Heidi Newfield is 51 years old. Singer-guitarist M. Ward (She & Him) is 48 years old. Actress Alicia Silverstone is 45 years old. Actress Dana Davis is 43 years old. Rock musician Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs) is 43 years old. Actor Phillip Glasser is 43 years old. The singer-rock musician Marc Roberge (OAR) is 43 years old. Actor Brandon Barash is 42 years old. Actor Rachael Leigh Cook is 42 years old. Actor Tim Peper is 41 years old. Actor Jimmy Workman is 41 years old. Actor Michael Charles Roman is 34 years old. Actor Melissa Benoist is 33 years old. NBA All-Star actor Derrick Rose is 33. Actor Dakota Johnson is 32 years old. Figure skater Kimmie Meisner is 32 years old. Actor Leigh-Anne Pinnock (Little Mix) is 30 years old. Actor Ryan Scott Lee is 25 years old.
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