Today In History
Today is Saturday, Aug. 29, the 242nd day of 2020. There are 124 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 2005: Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast near Buras, Louisiana, bringing floods that devastated New Orleans. More than 1,800 people in the region died.
ON THIS DATE
› 1862: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing began operations at the United States Treasury.
› 1944: Fifteen thousand American troops of the 28th Infantry Division marched down the Champs Elysees in Paris as the French capital continued to celebrate its liberation from the Nazis.
› 1957: The Senate gave final congressional approval to a Civil Rights Act after South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond (then a Democrat) ended a filibuster that had lasted 24 hours.
› 1964: Roy Orbison’s single “Oh, Pretty Woman” was released on the Monument label.
› 1966: The Beatles concluded their fourth American tour with their last public concert, held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
› 2008: Republican presidential nominee John McCain picked Sarah Palin, a maverick conservative who had been governor of Alaska for less than two years, to be his running mate.
› 2012: The NFL announced it would open the regular season with replacement officials.
› 2018: Kanye West apologized on a Chicago radio station (WGCI) for calling slavery a “choice.”
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Betty Lynn (TV: “The Andy Griffith Show”) is 94. Movie director William Friedkin is 85. Actor Elliott Gould is 82. Actor Deborah Van Valkenburgh is 68. Former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is 65. Dancer-choreographer Mark Morris is 64. Country musician Dan Truman (Diamond Rio) is 64. Actor Rebecca DeMornay is 61. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is 53. Singer Me’Shell NdegeOcello is 52. R&B singer Carl Martin (Shai) is 50. Actor Carla Gugino is 49. Rock musician Kyle Cook (Matchbox Twenty) is 45. Actor John Hensley is 43. Actor Kate Simses is 41. Rapper A+ is 38. Actor Jennifer Landon is 37. Actor Jeffrey Licon is 35. Actor-singer Lea Michele is 34. Actor Nicole Gale Anderson is 30. MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard is 28. Rock singer Liam Payne (One Direction) is 27.