TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, Oct. 23, the 296th day of 2019. There are 69 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon agreed to turn over White House tape recordings subpoenaed by the Watergate special prosecutor to Judge John J. Sirica.
On this date:
■ In 1707, the first Parliament of Great Britain, created by the Acts of Union between England and Scotland, held its first meeting.
■ In 1915, tens of thousands of women paraded up Fifth Avenue in New York City, demanding the right to vote.
■ In 1956, a student-sparked revolt against Hungary’s Communist rule began; as the revolution spread, Soviet forces started entering the country, and the uprising was put down within weeks.
■ In 1987, the U.S. Senate rejected, 58-42, the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.
■ In 1995, a jury in Houston convicted Yolanda Saldivar of murdering Tejano singing star Selena. (Saldivar is serving a life prison sentence.)
■ In 2001, the nation’s anthrax scare hit the White House with the discovery of a small concentration of spores at an offsite mail processing center.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect non-infected patients.
Five years ago: Officials announced that an emergency room doctor who’d recently returned to New York City after treating Ebola patients in West Africa tested positive for the virus, becoming the first case in the city and the fourth in the nation. (Dr. Craig Spencer later recovered.)
One year ago: A lottery ticket sold in South Carolina was the only one to match all six numbers drawn for the Mega Millions jackpot, which totaled $1.537 billion - just short of the record for all U.S. lotteries.
Today’s Birthdays: Movie director Philip Kaufman is 83. Soccer great Pele is 79. Rhythmand-blues singer Barbara Ann Hawkins (The Dixie Cups) is
76. Former ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross is 71. Actor Michael Rupert is
68. Movie director Ang Lee is
65. Jazz singer Dianne Reeves is 63. Country singer Dwight Yoakam is 63. Community activist Martin Luther King III is 62. Movie director Sam Raimi is 60. Parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic is 60. Rock musician Robert Trujillo (Metallica) is
55. Christian/jazz singer David Thomas (Take 6) is 53. Rock musician Brian Nevin (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 53. Country singer-musician Junior Bryant is 51. Actor Jon Huertas is 50. Movie director Chris Weitz is 50. Bluegrass musician Eric Gibson (The Gibson Brothers) is 49. Country singer Jimmy Wayne is 47. Actress Vivian Bang is 46. Rock musician Eric Bass (Shinedown) is 45. TV personality Meghan McCain (“The View”) is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Miguel is 34. Actress Masiela Lusha is 34. Actress Jessica Stroup is 33. Actress Taylor Spreitler is 26. Actress Margaret Qualley is 25. Actress Amandla Stenberg is 21.
Thought for Today: “Just be yourself — it’s the only way it can work.” — Johnny Carson (1925-2005).