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TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is the 233rd day of 2019. There are 132 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On August 21, 2000, rescue efforts to reach the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk ended with divers announcing none of the 118 sailors had survived.

On this date:

In 1609, Galileo Galilei demonstrated his new telescope.

In 1831, Nat Turner launched a violent slave rebellion in Virginia resulting in the deaths of at least 55 whites.

In 1863, pro-Confederate raiders attacked Lawrence, Kansas, massacring the men and destroying the town’s buildings.

In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen in Paris. (It was recovered two years later in Italy.)

In 1912, the Boy Scouts of America named its first Eagle Scout, Arthur Rose Eldred of Troop 1 in Rockville Centre, N.Y.

In 1940, exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky died in a Mexican hospital from assassination wounds.

In 1983, Philippine opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., ending a self-imposed exile in the United States, was shot dead moments after stepping off a plane at Manila International Airport.

In 1992, an 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest Weaver for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns; on the first day of the siege, Weaver’s teenage son, Samuel, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed.

Ten years ago: Leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to lift a ban that prohibited sexually active gays and lesbians from serving as ministers.

Five years ago: Calling it a “miraculous day,” an American doctor infected with Ebola left his isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. .

One year ago: Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and other charges; Cohen said Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to fend off damage to his White House bid. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight financial crimes. The body of college student Mollie Tibbetts was found in an Iowa cornfield; authorities say they were led to the body by a farmworker from Mexico who confessed to kidnapping and killing her.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Kenny Rogers is 81. Actor Clarence Williams III is 80. Rock-and-roll musician James Burton is 80. Singer Harold Reid (The Statler Brothers) is 80. Singer Jackie DeShannon is 78. Actress Patty McCormack is 74. Pop singer-musician Carl Giammarese is 72. Actress Loretta Devine is 70. NBC newsman Harry Smith is 68. Singer Glenn Hughes is 67. Country musician Nick Kane is 65. Actress Kim Cattrall is 63. Actress Cleo King is 57. Rock singer Serj Tankian (System of a Down) is 52. Actress Carrie-Anne Moss is 49. Rock musician Liam Howlett (Prodigy) is 48. Actress Alicia Witt is 44. Singer Kelis is 40. Actor Diego Klattenhoff is 40. Actor Carlos Pratts is 33.

Thought for Today: “I don’t measure America by its achievement but by its potential.” — Shirley Chisholm, American politician (1924-2005).

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