TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, DEC. 10, the 345th day of 2016. There are 21 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1520, Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication.

In 1817, Mississippi was admitted as the 20th state of the Union.

In 1931, Jane Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; the co-recipient was Nicholas Murray Butler.

In 1950, Ralph J. Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first black American to receive the award.

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, saying he accepted it “with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind.”

In 1967, singer Otis Redding, 26, and six others were killed when their plane crashed into Wisconsin’s Lake

Monona.

In 1984, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1986, human rights advocate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1994, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize, pledging to pursue their mission of healing the anguished Middle East.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Rhythm-andblues singer Ralph Tavares is 75. Popfunk musician Walter “Clyde” Orange (The Commodores) is 70. Actress Susan Dey is 64. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is 60. Actor-director Kenneth Branagh is 56. TV chef Bobby Flay is 52. Actress-comedian Arden Myrin is 43. Rock musician Meg White (The White Stripes) is 42. Actor Gavin Houston is 39. Violinist Sarah Chang is 36. Rock musician Noah Harmon (Airborne Toxic Event) is 35. Actress Raven-Symone is 31.