Today in History: Hello ‘Frisco!

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Oct. 9, the 282nd day of 2018. There are 83 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 9, 1776, a group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco.

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On this date:

In 1888, the public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.

In 1910, a coal dust explosion at the Starkville Mine in Colorado left 56 miners dead.

In 1914, the Belgian city of Antwerp fell to German forces during World War I.

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In 1930, Laura Ingalls became the first woman to fly across the United States as she completed a nine-stop journey from Roosevelt Field, N.Y., to Glendale, Calif.

In 1936, the first generator at Boulder (later Hoover) Dam began transmitting electricity to Los Angeles.

In 1958, Pope Pius XII died at age 82, ending a 19-year papacy. (He was succeeded by Pope John XXIII.)

In 1967, Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was summarily executed by the Bolivian army a day after his capture.

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In 1985, the hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered two days after seizing the vessel in the Mediterranean. (Passenger Leon Klinghoffer was killed by the hijackers during the standoff.)

In 1995, a sabotaged section of track caused an Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited, to derail in Arizona; one person was killed and about 80 were injured (the case remains unsolved).

In 2001, in the first daylight raids since the start of U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan, jets bombed the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Letters postmarked in Trenton, N.J., were sent to Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy; the letters later tested positive for anthrax.

In 2006, North Korea faced a barrage of condemnation and calls for retaliation after it announced that it had set off a small atomic weapon underground; President Bush said, “The international community will respond.”

In 2009, President Barack Obama was named the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Ten years ago: Calm gave way to fear in financial markets, turning a relatively steady day into a rout that pushed the Dow Jones industrials below 9,000 — to 8,579.19 — for the first time in five years. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio of France won the Nobel Prize in literature.

Five years ago: The United States announced it was cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt in response to the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the crackdown by the military-backed government on his supporters. Critic, author and editor Stanley Kauffmann, 97, died in New York.

One year ago: Declaring, “The war on coal is over,” EPA chief Scott Pruitt said he would sign a new rule overriding the Clean Power Plan, an effort from the Obama administration to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. ESPN suspended anchor Jemele Hill for two weeks for making political statements on social media; Hill had referred to President Donald Trump as a “white supremacist” in a series of tweets. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, at 84 the oldest current senator, announced that she would seek another term. The bodies of 100-year-old Charles Rippey and his 98-year-old wife Sara were found in the ruins of their Northern California home; they were among the victims of two deadly wildfires in the region.

Today’s Birthdays: Retired MLB All-Star Joe Pepitone is 78. Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., is 77. C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb is 77. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nona Hendryx is 74. Singer Jackson Browne is 70. Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams is 68. Actor Gary Frank is 68. Actor Richard Chaves is 67. Actor Robert Wuhl is 67. Actress-TV personality Sharon Osbourne is 66. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 65. Actor Scott Bakula is 64. Musician James Fearnley (The Pogues) is 64. Actor John O’Hurley is 64. Writer-producer-director-actor Linwood Boomer is 63. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Mike Singletary is 60. Actor Michael Pare is 60. Jazz musician Kenny Garrett is 58. Rock singer-musician Kurt Neumann (The BoDeans) is 57. Country singer Gary Bennett is 54. Movie director Guillermo del Toro is 54. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is 52. Singer P.J. Harvey is 49. Movie director Steve McQueen (Film: “12 Years a Slave”) is 49. World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam is 48. Actress Cocoa Brown is 46. Country singer Tommy Shane Steiner is 45. Actor Steve Burns is 45. Rock singer Sean Lennon is 43. Actor Randy Spelling is 40. Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae is 39. Actor Brandon Routh is 39. Actor Zachery Ty Bryan is 37. Actress Spencer Grammer is 35. Comedian Melissa Villasenor (TV: “Saturday Night Live”) is 31. Actor Tyler James Williams is 26. Country singer Scotty McCreery (TV: “American Idol”) is 25.

Thought for Today: “It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest.” — Dorothy Canfield Fisher, American author and essayist (1879-1958).