TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, NOV. 13, the 317th day of 2017. There are 48 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 1977, the satirical comic strip “Li’l Abner” by Al Capp appeared in newspapers for the last time.

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, Jean-Baptiste Leroy: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

In 1849, voters in California ratified the state’s original constitution.

In 1909, 259 men and boys were killed when fire erupted inside a coal mine in Cherry, Ill.

In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between lower Manhattan and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.

In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.

In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public city and state buses.

In 1974, Karen Silkwood, a 28-yearold technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., died in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter.

In 1985, some 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died when a volcanic mudslide buried the city.

In 2015,

Islamic State militants carried out a set of coordinated attacks in Paris on the national stadium, restaurants and streets, and a crowded concert hall, killing 130 people.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Journalistauthor Peter Arnett is 83. Actor Jimmy Hawkins is 76. Country singersongwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard is 71. Actor Joe Mantegna is 70. Actor Chris Noth is 63. Actress-comedian Whoopi Goldberg is 62. Former NFL quarterback and College Football Hall of Famer Vinny Testaverde is 54. Rock musician Walter Kibby (Fishbone) is 53. Actor Steve Zahn is 50. Actor Gerard Butler and writer-activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali are 48. NBA All-Star Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) is 38. Actor Devon Bostick is 26.