TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, APRIL 20, the 110th day of 2015. There are 255 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History: On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and caused a blow-out that began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. The well was finally capped nearly three months later, on July 15.
On this date in 1314, Pope Clement V, the first of the Avignonese popes, died at Roquemaure, France.
In 1792, France declared war on Austria, marking the start of the French Revolutionary Wars.
In 1914, the Ludlow Massacre took place when the Colorado National Guard opened fire on a tent colony of striking miners; about 20 strikers, women and children died.
In 1945, during World War II, allied forces took control of the German cities of Nuremberg and Stuttgart.
In 1968, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada.
In 1972, Apollo 16’s lunar module, carrying astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke Jr., landed on the moon.
In 1988, gunmen who’d hijacked a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet were allowed safe passage out of Algeria under an agreement that freed the remaining 31 hostages and ended a 15-day siege in which two passengers were slain.
In 1999, the Columbine High School massacre took place in Colorado as two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before taking their own lives.
In 2005, President George W. Bush signed a bill making it harder for debt-ridden people to wipe clean their financial slates by declaring bankruptcy.
In 2010, airliners began taking to the skies of Europe again after five days of being grounded by a drifting volcanic ash. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on videos that showed graphic violence against animals.
In 2014, Pope Francis made an Easter Sunday plea for peace and dialogue in Ukraine and Syria, for an end to attacks against Christians in Nigeria and for more attention to the hungry and neediest close to home.
Today’s Birthdays: Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is 95. Actor Leslie Phillips is 91. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., is 79. Actor George Takei is 78. Singer Johnny Tillotson is 77. Actor Ryan O’Neal is 74. Bluegrass singermusician Doyle Lawson (Quicksilver) is 71. Rock musician Craig Frost (Grand Funk; Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band) and actor Gregory Itzin are 67. Actresses Jessica Lange and Veronica Cartwright are 66. Actor Clint Howard is 56. Actors Crispin Glover and Andy Serkis and Olympic silver medal figure skater Rosalynn Sumners are 51. Country singer Wade Hayes is 46. Actor Shemar Moore is 45. Actress Carmen Electra and reggae singer Stephen Marley are 43. Rock musician Marty Crandall is 40. Actor Joey Lawrence is 39. Country musician Clay Cook ( Zac Brown Band) is 37. Actor Tim Jo is 31.