Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021
Today is Tuesday, Aug. 3, the 215th day of 2021. There are 150 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On August 3, 1936, Jesse Owens of the United States won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he took the 100-meter sprint.
On this date:
In 1914, Germany declared war on France at the onset of World War I.
In 1949, the National Basketball Association was formed as a merger of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League.
In 1966, comedian Lenny Bruce, whose raunchy brand of satire and dark humor landed him in trouble with the law, was found dead in his Los Angeles home; he was 40.
In 1972, the U.S. Senate ratified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. (The U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)
In 1981, U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan they would be fired, which they were.
In 1993, the Senate voted 96-to-three to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
In 1994, Arkansas carried out the nation’s first triple execution in 32 years. Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as the Supreme Court’s newest justice in a private ceremony at Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s Vermont summer home.
In 2004, the Statue of Liberty pedestal in New York City reopened to the public for the first time since the 9/11 attacks.
In 2005, fourteen Marines from a Reserve unit in Ohio were killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq.
In 2014, Israel withdrew most of its ground troops from the Gaza Strip in an apparent winding down of a nearly monthlong operation against Hamas that had left more than 1,800 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis dead.
In 2018, Las Vegas police said they were closing their investigation into the Oct. 1 shooting that left 58 people dead at a country music festival without a definitive answer for why Stephen Paddock unleashed gunfire from a hotel suite onto the concert crowd.
In 2019, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, leaving 22 people dead; prosecutors said Patrick Crusius targeted Mexicans in hopes of scaring Latinos into leaving the U.S., and that he had outlined the plot in a screed published online shortly before the attack. (A man who was wounded in the shooting died in April 2020 after months in the hospital, raising the death toll to 23. Crusius has pleaded not guilty to state murder charges; he also faces federal hate crime and gun charges.)
Ten years ago: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak denied all charges against him as he went on trial for alleged corruption and complicity in the deaths of protesters who’d helped drive him from power. (Mubarak and his security chief were sentenced to life in prison for failing to prevent the killing of hundreds of protesters; they were cleared by a higher court, but Mubarak was later sentenced to three years for corruption.) The Muscular Dystrophy Association announced that Jerry Lewis was no longer its national chairman and would not be appearing on the Labor Day telethon. Former NFL star and actor Bubba Smith died at age 66.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama cut short the sentences of 214 federal inmates, including 67 life sentences, in what the White House called the largest batch of commutations on a single day in more than a century. An Emirates Boeing 777 crash-landed in Dubai and caught fire; all 300 people on board survived, but one firefighter was killed.
One year ago: The St. Louis Cardinals became the second team sidelined by the coronavirus since the shortened baseball season began July 23; seven Cardinals players and six staff members tested positive, causing the team’s four-game series at Detroit to be postponed. (The Miami Marlins would resume play the following day after missing a week of games.) A Norwegian cruise ship line halted all trips after a coronavirus outbreak on one ship infected more than 40 people on board, most of them crew members; the cruise line had been one of the first companies to resume sailing during the pandemic.
Today’s Birthdays: Football Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy is 96. Singer Tony Bennett is 95. Actor Martin Sheen is 81. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lance Alworth is 81. Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart is 80. Singer Beverly Lee (The Shirelles) is 80. Movie director John Landis is 71. Actor JoMarie Payton is 71. Actor Jay North (TV: “Dennis the Menace”) is 70. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Marcel Dionne is 70. Actor Philip Casnoff is 67. Actor John C. McGinley is 62. Rock singer-musician Lee Rocker (The Stray Cats) is 60. Actor Lisa Ann Walter is 60. Rock singer James Hetfield (Metallica) is 58. Rock singer-musician Ed Roland (Collective Soul) is 58. Actor Isaiah Washington is 58. Country musician Dean Sams (Lonestar) is 55. Rock musician Stephen Carpenter (Deftones) is 51. Hip-hop artist Spinderella (Salt-N-Pepa) is 50. Actor Brigid Brannagh is 49. Actor Michael Ealy is 48. Country musician Jimmy De Martini (Zac Brown Band) is 45. NFL quarterback Tom Brady is 44. Actor Evangeline (ee-VAN’-gel-een) Lilly is 42. Actor Mamie Gummer is 38. Olympic gold medal swimmer Ryan Lochte is 37. Country singer Whitney Duncan is 37. Actor Jon Foster is 37. Actor Georgina Haig is 36. Actor Tanya Fischer is 36. Pop-rock musician Brent Kutzle (OneRepublic) is 36. Rapper Shelley FKA DRAM is 33.
Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021
Today is Wednesday, Aug. 4, the 216th day of 2021. There are 149 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History
On August 4, 1987, the Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to abolish the Fairness Doctrine, which required radio and television stations to present balanced coverage of controversial issues.
On this date:
In 1735, a jury found John Peter Zenger of the New York Weekly Journal not guilty of committing seditious libel against the colonial governor of New York, William Cosby.
In 1790, the U.S. Coast Guard had its beginnings as President George Washington signed a measure authorizing a group of revenue cutters to enforce tariff and trade laws and prevent smuggling.
In 1892, businessman Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, were axed to death in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings, but acquitted at trial.
In 1914, Britain declared war on Germany for invading Belgium; the United States proclaimed its neutrality in the mushrooming world conflict.
In 1916, the United States reached agreement with Denmark to purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million.
In 1936, Jesse Owens of the United States won the second of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he prevailed in the long jump over German Luz Long, who was the first to congratulate him.
In 1944, 15-year-old diarist Anne Frank was arrested with her sister, parents and four others by the Gestapo after hiding for two years inside a building in Amsterdam. (Anne and her sister, Margot, died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.)
In 1964, the bodies of missing civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney were found buried in an earthen dam in Mississippi.
In 1972, Arthur Bremer was convicted and sentenced in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, to 63 years in prison for his attempt on the life of Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace (the sentence was later reduced to 53 years; Bremer was released from prison in 2007).
In 1993, a federal judge sentenced Los Angeles police officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating Rodney King’s civil rights.
In 2009, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pardoned American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee for entering the country illegally and ordered their release during a surprise visit by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
In 2019, a masked gunman fired on revelers enjoying summer nightlife in a popular entertainment district of Dayton, Ohio, leaving nine people dead and 27 wounded; police said officers shot and killed the shooter within 30 seconds of the start of his rampage.
Ten years ago: A Texas jury convicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs of child sexual assault in a case stemming from two young followers he’d taken as brides in what his church called “spiritual marriages.” (Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison.)
Five years ago: Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, President Barack Obama vigorously denied that a $400 million cash payment to Iran was ransom to secure the release of four Americans jailed in Tehran. During a practice session on the eve of the Rio Olympics, South Korean gymnast Lee Eun-ju took a smiling selfie with North Korean gymnast Hong Un Jong in a warmly received scene captured by journalists.
One year ago: Nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been improperly stored for years in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, exploded, killing more than 200 people, injuring more than 6,000 and devastating nearby neighborhoods; it was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. After months of criticizing the practice, President Donald Trump urged voters in the critical swing state of Florida to vote by mail, even as the Trump campaign and Republican officials sued to block a Nevada plan to automatically send voters mail ballots. Virgin Atlantic, the airline founded by British businessman Richard Branson, filed for protection in U.S. bankruptcy court.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor-singer Tina Cole is 78. Actor-comedian Richard Belzer is 77. Football Hall of Famer John Riggins is 72. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is 66. Actor-screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton is 66. Actor Kym Karath (Film: “The Sound of Music”) is 63. Hall of Fame track star Mary Decker Slaney is 63. Actor Lauren Tom is 62. Former President Barack Obama is 60. Producer Michael Gelman (TV: “Live with Kelly & Ryan”) is 60. Retired MLB All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens is 59. Actor Crystal Chappell is 56. Author Dennis Lehane is 56. Rock musician Rob Cieka (Boo Radleys) is 53. Actor Daniel Dae Kim is 53. Actor Michael DeLuise is 52. Former race car driver Jeff Gordon is 50. Rapper-actor Yo-Yo is 50. Country singer Jon Nicholson is 48. R&B singer-actor Marques (MAR’-kus) Houston is 40. Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, the former actor Meghan Markle, is 40. Actor Abigail Spencer is 40. Actor/director Greta Gerwig is 38. Country singer Crystal Bowersox (TV: “American Idol”) is 36. Rock singer Tom Parker (The Wanted) is 33. Actors Dylan and Cole Sprouse are 29. Singer Jessica Sanchez (TV: “American Idol”) is 26.
