TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17, the 290th day of 2018. There are 75 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
In 1777, British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.
In 1807, Britain declared it would continue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regardless of whether they held U.S. citizenship.
In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted in Chicago of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)
In 1939, Frank Capra’s comedy-drama “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” starring James Stewart as an idealistic junior U.S. senator, had its premiere in the nation’s capital.
In 1967, Puyi, the last emperor of China, died in Beijing at age 61.
In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974.
In 1979, Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion worth of damage.
In 1992, Japanese exchange student Yoshi Hattori was fatally shot by Rodney Peairs in Baton Rouge, La., after Hattori and his American host mistakenly knocked on Peairs’ door while looking for a Halloween party. (Peairs was acquitted of manslaughter, but was ordered in a civil trial to pay more than $650,000 to Hattori’s family.) In 2000, the New York Yankees followed the Mets into the World Series, beating the Seattle Mariners 9-7 and winning the American League championship series four games to two.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Marsha Hunt is 101. Actress Julie Adams is 92. Country singer Earl Thomas Conley is 77. Singer Jim Seals (Seals & Crofts) and singer Gary Puckett are 76. Actor Michael McKean is 71. Actor George Wendt is 70. Actor-singer Bill Hudson is 69. Astronaut Mae Jemison is 62. Country singer Alan Jackson is 60. Movie critic Richard Roeper is 59. Movie director Rob Marshall and actor Grant Shaud are 58. Animator Mike Judge is 56. Rock singer-musician Fred LeBlanc (Cowboy Mouth) and actor-comedian Norm Macdonald are 55. Singer Rene’ Dif is 51. Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 50. Actor Wood Harris, singer Wyclef Jean and World Golf Hall-of-Famer Ernie Els are 49. Singer Chris Kirkpatrick (‘N Sync) is 47. Rapper Eminem and actress Sharon Leal are 46. Actor Matthew Macfadyen is 44. Rock musician Sergio Andrade is 41. Actress Felicity Jones is 35.