Today in History
Today is Sunday, Oct. 1, the 274th day of 2023. There are 91 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire from a room at the Mandalay Bay casino hotel in Las Vegas on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans at a concert below, leaving 58 people dead and more than 800 injured in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history; the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, killed himself before police arrived.
On this date:
In 1908, Henry Ford introduced his Model T automobile to the market.
In 1910, the offices of the Los Angeles Times were destroyed by a bomb explosion and fire; 21 Times employees were killed.
In 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China during a ceremony in Beijing.
In 1955, the sitcom “The Honeymooners,” starring Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph, premiered on CBS.
In 1957, the motto “In God We Trust” began appearing on U.S. paper currency.
In 1964, the Free Speech Movement began at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1971, Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida.
In 1987, eight people were killed when a magnitude-5.9 earthquake shook the Los Angeles area.
In 1994, National Hockey League team owners began a 103-day lockout of their players.
In 1996, a federal grand jury indicted Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski in the 1994 mail bomb slaying of advertising executive Thomas Mosser. (Kaczynski was later sentenced to four life terms plus 30 years. He died in June, 2023.)
In 2013, novelist Tom Clancy died in Baltimore at age 66.
In 2015, officials in Michigan declared a public health emergency over the city of Flint’s water in response to tests that showed children with elevated levels of lead.
In 2017, O.J. Simpson was released from a prison in Nevada after serving nine years for a botched hotel-room heist in Las Vegas.
In 2019, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was diagnosed with a heart attack at a Las Vegas hospital, where he’d been taken after experiencing chest discomfort at a campaign event.
In 2021, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000.
Today’s Birthdays: Former President Jimmy Carter is 99. Actor-singer Julie Andrews is 88. Rock musician Jerry Martini (Sly and the Family Stone) is 80. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew is 78. Jazz musician Dave Holland is 77. Actor Yvette Freeman is 73. Actor Randy Quaid is 73. R&B singer Howard Hewett is 68. Former British Prime Minister Theresa May is 67. Alt-country-rock musician Tim O’Reagan (The Jayhawks) is 65. Singer Youssou N’Dour is 64. Actor Esai Morales is 61. Retired MLB All-Star Mark McGwire is 60. Actor Christopher Titus is 59. Actor-model Cindy Margolis is 58. Producer John Ridley is 58. Rock singer-musician Kevin Griffin (Better Than Ezra) is 55. Actor Zach Galifianakis is 54. Singer Keith Duffy is 49. Actor Sherri Saum is 49. Actor Katie Aselton is 45. Actor Sarah Drew is 43. Actor Carly Hughes is 41. Actor-comedian Beck Bennett is 39. Actor Jurnee Smollett is 37. Actor Brie Larson is 34. San Diego Padres infielder Xander Bogaerts is 31. Singer/songwriter Jade Bird is 26. Actor Priah Ferguson is 17. Actor Jack Stanton is 15.
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