Today in History – Saturday Edition

Today is Saturday, Sept. 27, the 270th day of 2014. There are 95 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 27, 1964, the government publicly released the report of the Warren Commission, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

On this date:

In 1540, Pope Paul III issued a papal bull establishing the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, as a religious order.

In 1779,
John Adams was named by Congress to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.

In 1854,
the first great disaster involving an Atlantic Ocean passenger vessel occurred when the steamship SS Arctic sank off Newfoundland; of the more than 400 people on board, only 86 survived.

In 1928,
the United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.

In 1939,
Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.

In 1942,
Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performed together for the last time, at the Central Theater in Passaic, New Jersey, prior to Miller's entry into the Army.

In 1944,
evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 53, died in Oakland, California.

In 1954,
"Tonight!," hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.

In 1962,
"Silent Spring," Rachel Carson's study on the effects of pesticides on the environment, was published in book form by Houghton Mifflin.

In 1979,
Congress gave its final approval to forming the U.S. Department of Education.

In 1989,
Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. agreed to a $3.4 billion cash buyout by Sony Corp.

In 1994,
more than 350 Republican congressional candidates gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to sign the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the House.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush asked Congress for more than $7.1 billion to help Florida and other Southeastern states recover from their lashing by four hurricanes. A Justice Department audit said the FBI had a backlog of hundreds of thousands of hours of untranslated audio recordings from terror and espionage investigations. NBC announced that "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno would be succeeded by "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien in 2009 (however, O'Brien's stint on "The Tonight Show" lasted just over seven months).

Five years ago: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN'-geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl) won a second term, along with the center-right majority that had eluded her four years earlier, nudging Europe's biggest economic power to the right. Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist and former Nixon speechwriter William Safire died at age 79.

One year ago: President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by telephone, the first conversation between American and Iranian leaders in more than 30 years. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. Movie producer A.C. Lyles, 95, died in Los Angeles.

Local

Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.

Deadly crash closes Black Horse Pike in Atlantic County

Pa. House advances measure to prohibit ‘ghost guns'

Today's Birthdays: Actress Jayne Meadows is 95. Actress Kathleen Nolan is 81. Actor Wilford Brimley is 80. Actor Claude Jarman Jr. is 80. Author Barbara Howar is 80. World Golf Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth is 75. Singer-musician Randy Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 71. Rock singer Meat Loaf is 67. Actress Liz Torres is 67. Actor A Martinez is 66. Baseball Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt is 65. Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is 64. Singer Shaun Cassidy is 56. Comedian Marc Maron is 51. Rock singer Stephan (STEE'-fan) Jenkins (Third Eye Blind) is 50. Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is 48. Actor Patrick Muldoon is 46. Singer Mark Calderon is 44. Actress Amanda Detmer is 43. Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is 42. Rock singer Brad Arnold (3 Doors Down) is 36. Christian rock musician Grant Brandell (Underoath) is 33. Actress Anna Camp is 32. Rapper Lil' Wayne is 32. Singer Avril Lavigne (AV'-rihl la-VEEN') is 30.

Thought for Today: "Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once." — Lillian Dickson, American missionary (1901-1983).

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us