Today is Easter Sunday, April 16, the 106th day of 2017. There are 259 days left in the year.
Today’s highlights: On April 16, 1947, the cargo ship Grandcamp, carrying a load of ammonium nitrate, blew up in the harbor in Texas City, Texas; a nearby ship, the High Flyer, which was carrying ammonium nitrate and sulfur, caught fire as a result and exploded the following day; the blasts and fires killed nearly 600 people.
On this date:
In 1789, President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York.
In 1867, aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana (his brother Orville was born five years later in Dayton, Ohio).
In 1912, American aviator Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel, leaving Dover, England, and arriving near Calais, France, in 59 minutes.
In 1917, following the abdication of Czar Nicholas II, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia after years of exile.
In 1937, the Laurel &Hardy slapstick comedy “Way Out West” was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
In 1940, Major League Baseball’s first (and, to date, only) opening day no-hitter took place as Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians pitched a no-no against the Chicago White Sox, 1-0, at Comiskey Park.
In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
In 1986, dispelling rumors he was dead, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi appeared on television to condemn the U.S. raid on his country and to say that Libyans were “ready to die” defending their nation.
In 2014, 304 people, mostly students, died when a South Korean ferry, the Sewol, sank while en route from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju; 172 people survived.
Today’s birthdays: Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI is 90. Singer Bobby Vinton is 82. Basketball Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 70. Former Massachusetts first lady Ann Romney is 68. NFL coach Bill Belichick is 65. Actress Ellen Barkin is 63. Actor Michel Gill (TV: “House of Cards”; “Mr. Robot”) is 57. Rock musician Jason Scheff (Chicago) is 55. Singer Jimmy Osmond is 54. Rock singer David Pirner (Soul Asylum) is 53. Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 52. Actor Jon Cryer is 52. Rock musician Dan Rieser is 51. Actor Peter Billingsley is 46. Actor Lukas Haas is 41. Actress-singer Kelli O’Hara is 41. Figure skater Mirai Nagasu is 24. Actress Sadie Sink is 15.
Thought for today: “Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.” — Henry Miller, American author (1891-1980).
Associated Press
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