Today in history

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 30, the 365th day of 2020. There is one day left in the year. Today’s Highlight in

History:

On Dec. 30, 1903, about 600 people died when fire broke out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago.

On this date:

• In 1813, British troops burned Buffalo, New York, during the War of 1812.

• In 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.

• In 1860, 10 days after South Carolina seceded from the Union, the state militia seized the United States Arsenal in Charleston.

• In 1922, Vladimir Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted nearly seven decades before dissolving in December 1991.

• In 1936, the United Auto Workers union staged its first “sit-down” strike at the General Motors Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Michigan. (The strike lasted until Feb. 11, 1937.)

• In 1940, California’s first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened by Gov. Culbert L. Olson.

• In 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

• In 1994, a gunman walked into a pair of suburban Boston abortion clinics and opened fire, killing two employees. (John C. Salvi III was later convicted of murder; he died in prison, an apparent suicide.)

• In 2004, a fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 194 people. Bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died in Thousand Oaks, California, at age 94.

• In 2009, seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed by a suicide bomber at a U.S. base in Khost (hohst), Afghanistan.

Ten years ago: Republican Lisa Murkowski was officially named winner of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race following a period of legal fights and limbo that had lasted longer than the write-in campaign she waged to keep her job. Top-ranked Connecticut’s record 90-game winning streak in women’s basketball ended when No. 9 Stanford outplayed the Huskies in a 71-59 victory at Maples Pavilion.

Five years ago: Bill Cosby was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004; it was the first criminal case brought against the comedian out of the torrent of allegations that destroyed his good-guy image as “America’s Dad.” (Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked; he was convicted on three charges at his retrial in April 2018 and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.)

One year ago: Chinese state media said a scientist who had set off an ethical debate with claims that he had made the world’s first genetically edited babies was sentenced to three years in prison because of the research. A fierce winter storm created blizzard conditions in parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas, shutting down interstates and leading to hundreds of vehicle crashes. The NFL’s New York Giants fired coach Pat Shurmur after a 4-and12 season.