TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS TUESDAY, NOV. 12,

the 316th day of 2019. There are 49 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 headed to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.

In 1815, pioneering American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnstown, New York.

In 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., giving the green light to traffic.

In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over Japanese forces.)

In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.

In 1987, the American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person had AIDS or was HIV-positive.

In 1990, Japanese Emperor Akihito formally assumed the Chrysanthemum Throne. Actress Eve Arden died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 82.

In 1996, a Saudi Boeing 747 jetliner collided shortly after takeoff from New Delhi, India, with a Kazak Ilyushin-76 cargo plane, killing 349 people.

In 1998, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley filed a $433 million-dollar lawsuit against the firearms industry, declaring that it had created a public nuisance by flooding the streets with weapons deliberately marketed to criminals. (A judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2000; an appeals court ruled in 2002 that the city of Chicago could proceed; but the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2004.)

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Singer Brian Hyland and actor-playwright Wallace Shawn are 76. Rock musician Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs) and sportscaster Al Michaels are 75. Singersongwriter Neil Young is 74. Rock musician Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser (Blue Oyster Cult) is 72. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., is 70. Country/gospel singer Barbara Fairchild is 69. Actress Megan Mullally is 61. Actor Vincent Irizarry is 60. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci is 58. Actor Sam Lloyd is 56. Rock musician David Ellefson is 55. Retired MLB All-Star Sammy Sosa is 51. Figure skater Tonya Harding is 49. Actress Rebecca Wisocky is 48. Actress Radha Mitchell is 46. Actresses Lourdes Benedicto, Tamala Jones and Angela Watson are 45. Singer Tevin Campbell is 43. Actress Ashley Williams is 41. Actress Cote de Pablo is 40. Actor Ryan Gosling and contemporary Christian musician Chris Huffman are 39. Actress Anne Hathaway is 37. Pop singer Omarion is 35.