Today is Tuesday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2009. There are 2 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
In 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians were killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.
ON THIS DATE
In 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II.
In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state.
In 1851, the first YMCA in the U.S. was organized, in Boston.
In 1916, Grigory Rasputin, the so-called “Mad Monk” who’d wielded great influence with Czar Nicholas II, was murdered by a group of Russian noblemen in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 1934, Japan formally renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
In 1940, during World War II, Germany dropped incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as The Second Great Fire of London.
In 1957, singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were wed in Las Vegas.
In 1975, a bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people.
In 1999, the Nasdaq composite index closed above 4,000 for the first time, ending the day at 4,041.46.
In 2008, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s lawyer responded to impeachment charges, saying a vague array of charges and evidence did not merit removing his client from office. The African Union suspended Guinea after a coup in the West African nation. Grammy-winning jazz musician Freddie Hubbard died in Sherman Oaks, Calif., at age 70.
Associated Press
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