Today In History

Today is Thursday, June 30, the 181st day of 2022. There are 184 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On June 30, 1982, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expired, having failed to receive the required number of ratifications for its adoption, despite having its seven-year deadline extended by three years.

ON THIS DATE:

› 1958: The U.S. Senate passed the Alaska statehood bill by a vote of 64-20.

› 1985: Thirty-nine American hostages from a hijacked TWA jetliner were freed in Beirut after being held 17 days.

› 1986: The Supreme Court, in Bowers v. Hardwick, ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults (however, the nation’s highest court effectively reversed this decision in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas).

› 2016: Saying it was the right thing to do, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people would be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military, ending one of the last bans on service in the armed forces.

› 2020: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a landmark bill retiring the last state flag bearing the Confederate battle emblem. Boston’s arts commission voted unanimously to remove a statue depicting a freed slave kneeling at Abraham Lincoln’s feet.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Actor Lea Massari is

89. Actor Nancy Dussault is 86. Songwriter Tony Hatch is 83. Singer Glenn Shorrock is 78. Actor Leonard Whiting is 72. Jazz musician Stanley Clarke is 71. Rock musician Hal Lindes (Dire Straits) is 69. Actor-comedian David Alan Grier is 66. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio is 63. Actor Deirdre Lovejoy is 60. Actor Rupert Graves is

59. Former boxer Mike Tyson is 56. Rock musician Tom Drummond (Better Than Ezra) is

53. Actor-comedian Tony Rock (TV: “Living Biblically”) is 53. Actor Brian Bloom is 52. Actor Tom Burke is 41. Actor Lizzy Caplan is 40. Actor Susannah Flood is 40. Rock musician James Adam Shelley (American Authors) is 39. Country singer Cole Swindell is

39. R&B singer Fantasia is 38. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps is 37. Actor Sean Marquette (TV: “The Goldbergs”) is 34.