TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS FRIDAY, AUG. 17, the 229th day of 2018. There are 136 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1943, the Allied conquest of Sicily during World War II was completed.
In 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat began heading up the Hudson River on its successful round trip between New York and Albany.
In 1969, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast as a Category 5 storm that was blamed for 256 U.S. deaths, three in Cuba.
In 1978, the first trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended when Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.
In 1982, the first commercially produced compact discs, a recording of ABBA’s “The Visitors,” were pressed at a Philips factory near Hanover, West Germany.
In 1983, lyricist Ira Gershwin died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 86.
In 1985, more than 1,400 meatpackers walked off the job at the Geo. A. Hormel and Co.’s main plant in Austin, Minn., in a bitter strike that lasted just over a year.
In 1987, Rudolf Hess, the last member of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle, died at Spandau Prison at age 93, an apparent suicide.
Pakistani President Mohammad
Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel were killed in a mysterious plane crash.
In 1996, the Reform Party announced Ross Perot had been selected to be its first presidential nominee.
In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed when a magnitude-7.4 earthquake struck Turkey.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Author V.S. Naipaul is 86. Former MLB All-Star Boog Powell is 77. Actor Robert DeNiro is 75. Actor-screenwriter-producer Julian Fellowes is 69. Actor Robert Joy is 67. Rock singer Kevin Rowland (Dexy’s Midnight Runners) is 65. Olympic gold medal figure skater Robin Cousins is 61. Singer Belinda Carlisle is 60. Actor Sean Penn is 58. Jazz musician Everette Harp is 57. Rock musician Gilby Clarke is 56. Singer Maria McKee is 54. Rock musician Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes) is 53. Rock musician Jill Cunniff is 52. Actress Helen McCrory is 50. Singer Donnie Wahlberg, and College Basketball Hall of Famer and retired NBA All-Star Christian Laettner are 49. International Tennis Hall of Famer Jim Courier is 48. Retired MLB All-Star Jorge Posada is 47. TV personality Giuliana Rancic is 44. Actor Bryton James is 32. Actor Brady Corbet is 30. Actress Taissa Farmiga is 24. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Gracie Gold is 23.