Today is Friday, April 19, the 109th day of 2019. There are 256 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (Bomber Timothy McVeigh, who prosecutors said had planned the attack as revenge for the Waco siege of two years earlier, was convicted of federal murder charges and executed in 2001.)
On this date:
In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1939, Connecticut became the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after it took effect.
In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but ultimately futile battle against Nazi forces.
In 1989, 47 sailors were killed when a gun turret exploded aboard the USS Iowa in the Caribbean. (The Navy initially suspected that a dead crew member had deliberately sparked the blast, but later said there was no proof of that.)
In 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope in the first conclave of the new millennium; he took the name Benedict XVI.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Elinor Donahue is 82. Rock musician Alan Price (The Animals) is 77. Actor Tim Curry is 73. Pop singer Mark “Flo” Volman (The Turtles; Flo and Eddie) is 72. Actor Tony Plana is 67.
Thought for today: “Never one thing and seldom one person can make for a success. It takes a number of them merging into one perfect whole.” — Marie Dressler, Canadian actress (1869-1934).
— Associated Press
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