TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SUNDAY, SEPT. 16, the 259th day of 2018. There are 106 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY: On this date in 1987, two dozen countries signed the Montreal Protocol, a treaty designed to save the Earth’s ozone layer by calling on nations to reduce emissions of harmful chemicals by the year 2000.

In 1810, Mexico began its revolt against Spanish rule.

In 1857, the song “Jingle Bells” by James Pierpont was copyrighted under its original title, “One Horse Open Sleigh.” The song, considered a Christmastime classic, was written for Thanksgiving.

In 1908, General Motors was founded in Flint, Mich., by William C. Durant.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act. Samuel T. Rayburn of Texas was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1964, the rock-and-roll show “Shindig!” premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1982, the massacre of between 1,200 and 1,400 Palestinian men, women and children at the hands of Israeli-allied Christian Phalange militiamen began in west Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

In 1994, a federal jury in Anchorage, Alaska, ordered Exxon Corp. to pay $5 billion in punitive damages for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The U.S. Supreme Court later reduced that amount to $507.5 million.

In 2007, contractors for the U.S. security firm Blackwater USA guarding a U.S. State Department convoy in Baghdad opened fire on civilian vehicles, mistakenly believing they were under attack; 14 Iraqis died.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Janis Paige is 96. Actor George Chakiris is 86. Bluesman Billy Boy Arnold is 83. Actress Linda Miller is 76. Rhythm-andblues singer Betty Kelley (Martha & the Vandellas) is 74. Musician Kenney Jones (Small Faces; Faces; The Who), actress Susan Ruttan and rock musician Ron Blair (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers; Mudcrutch) are 70. Actor Ed Begley

Jr. is 69. Country singer David Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers) is 68. Actor Mickey Rourke is 66. Magician David Copperfield is 62. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tim Raines is 59. Singer Richard Marx is 55. Comedian Molly Shannon is 54. Comedian-actress Amy Poehler is 47. Actress Toks Olagundoye and country singer Matt Stillwell are 43. Singer Musiq is 41. Actor Michael Mosley is 40. Actress Alexis Bledel is 37. Actor Daren Kagasoff is 31. Rock singer Teddy Geiger is 30. Actress-dancer Bailey Buntain is 29. Rock singer-musician Nick Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is 26. Actress Elena Kampouris is 21.