TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Saturday, Sept. 24, the 268th day of 2016. There are 98 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On Sept. 24, 1996, the United States, represented by President Bill Clinton, and 70 other countries signed a treaty at the United Nations to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons. (To date, 183 countries have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, but the agreement has yet to enter into force because of the refusal so far of eight nations — including the United States — to ratify it.)

On this date

1789 — President George Washington signed a Judiciary Act establishing America’s federal court system and creating the post of attorney general. 1869 — Thousands of businessmen were ruined in a Wall Street panic known as “Black Friday” after financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market. 1929 — Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY-2 Biplane over Mitchel Field in New York in the first all-instrument flight. 1948 — Mildred Gillars, accused of being Nazi wartime radio propagandist “Axis Sally,” pleaded not guilty in Washington, D.C., to charges of treason. (Gillars, later convicted, ended up serving 12 years in prison.) 1955 — President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a heart attack while on vacation in Denver. 1960 — The USS Enterprise, the first nuclearpowered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Virginia. 1976 — Former hostage Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery in San Francisco carried out by the Symbionese Liberation Army. (Hearst was released after 22 months after receiving clemency from President Jimmy Carter.) 1991 — Kidnappers in Lebanon freed British hostage Jack Mann after holding him captive for more than two years.

Five years ago

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed Vladimir Putin as a presidential candidate for 2012, paving the way for Putin’s return to office four years after he was legally forced to step aside.

NASA’s dead six-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite fell to Earth, 20 years after being deployed from the space shuttle Discovery.

Today’s Birthdays

Rhythm-and-blues singer Sonny Turner (The Platters) is 77. Singer Barbara Allbut Brown (The Angels) is 76. Singer Phyllis “Jiggs” Allbut Sirico (The Angels) is 74. Singer Gerry Marsden (Gerry and the Pacemakers) is 74. News anchor Lou Dobbs is 71. Songwriter Holly Knight is 60. Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, D-Mass., is 64. Actor Kevin Sorbo is 58. Actress-writer Nia Vardalos is 54. Rock musician Shawn Crahan (AKA Clown) (Slipknot) is 47. Actress Megan Ward is 47. Singer-musician Marty Cintron (No Mercy) is 45. Contemporary Christian musician Juan DeVevo (Casting Crowns) is 41. Actor Ian Bohen is 40. Actor Justin Bruening is 37. Olympic gold medal gymnast Paul Hamm is 34. Actor Erik Stocklin is 34. Actor Kyle Sullivan is 28.