Today is Monday, April 18, the 109th day of 2016. There are 257 days left in the year.
Today’s highlights:
On April 18, 1966, “The Sound of Music” won the Oscar for best picture of 1965 at the 38th Academy Awards. The first Major League baseball game played on AstroTurf took place at the Houston Astrodome as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Astros 6-3. Bill Russell was named player-coach of the Boston Celtics, becoming the NBA’s first black coach.
On this date:
In 1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Massachusetts, warning American colonists that the British were coming.
In 1865, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham Station in North Carolina.
In 1906, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, followed by raging fires; estimates of the final death toll range between 3,000 and 6,000.
In 1925, the first Woman’s World’s Fair, an eight-day event, opened in Chicago.
In 1934, the first laundromat was opened by John F. Cantrell in Fort Worth, Texas; the “Washateria,” as it was called, rented four electric washing machines to the public on an hourly basis.
In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The first World War II edition of The Stars and Stripes was published as a weekly newspaper.
In 1945, during World War II, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa.
In 1946, the League of Nations met for the last time. The International Court of Justice, the judicial arm of the United Nations, held its first sitting in The Hague, Netherlands.
In 1956, American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in a civil ceremony. (A church wedding took place the next day.)
In 1978, the Senate approved the Panama Canal Treaty, providing for the complete turnover of control of the waterway to Panama on the last day of 1999.
In 1983, 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
In 1996, Israeli shells killed 107 Lebanese refugees in a United Nations camp; Israel called the attack an “unfortunate mistake.” Gunmen opened fire at a hotel in Egypt, killing 18 Greek tourists they’d mistaken for Israelis.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush reshuffled his economic team, appointing Rob Portman his new budget chief. Chinese President Hu Jintao (hoo jin-tow) arrived in the Seattle area for talks with business leaders before heading to Washington, D.C. Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, was born.
Five years ago: Standard &Poor’s lowered its long-term outlook for the U.S. government’s fiscal health from “stable” to “negative,” and warned of serious consequences if lawmakers failed to reach a deal to control the massive federal deficit. Crystal Mangum, who’d falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her, was charged with murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend Reginald Daye. (Mangum was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to between 14 and 18 years in prison.) Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai won the Boston Marathon in 2:03:02, the fastest anyone had ever run the 26.2 mile distance; fellow Kenyan Caroline Kilel won the women’s race in 2:22:36.
One year ago: A ship believed to be carrying more than 800 migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya; only about 30 people were rescued. A motorcycle-riding suicide bomber attacked a line of people waiting outside a bank in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 35. Ringo Starr, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, pop punks Green Day, soul singer-songwriter Bill Withers, underground-rock icon Lou Reed, bluesy guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The “5” Royales were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Associated Press
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