TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, NOV. 18, the 322nd day of 2021. There are 43 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1991, Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland, the American dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut. In 1883, the United States and Canada adopted a system of Standard Time zones. In 1963, the Bell System introduced the first commercial touch-tone telephone system in Carnegie and Greensburg, Pennsylvania. In 1966, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent. In 1976, Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship. In 1978, U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., and four others were killed in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide by more than 900 cult members. In 1987, the congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides. A fire at London King’s Cross railway station claimed 31 lives. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-to-3 that the state constitution guaranteed gay couples the right to marry. In 2004, Former President Bill Clinton’s library opened in Little Rock, Arkansas; in attendance were President George W. Bush, former President George H.W. Bush and former President Jimmy Carter. Former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry, convicted of killing four black girls in the racially motivated bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, church in 1963, died in prison at age 74. In 2005, eight months after Robert Blake was acquitted at a criminal trial of murdering his wife, a civil jury decided the actor was behind the slaying and ordered him to pay Bonny Lee Bakley’s children $30 million. In 2009, two days before turning 92, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., set a record for longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history at 56 years, 320 days. (That record was broken in 2013 by U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.) In 2013, Toronto’s city council voted to strip scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford of many of his powers following a heated debate in which he knocked over a city councilor. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Brenda Vaccaro and author-poet Margaret Atwood are 82. Actors Linda Evans and Susan Sullivan are 79. Country singer Jacky Ward is 75. Actor Jameson Parker is 74. Actor-singer Andrea Marcovicci is 73. Rock musician Herman Rarebell is 72. Singer Graham Parker is 71. Actor Delroy Lindo is 69. Comedian Kevin Nealon is 68. Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon is 65. Actor Oscar Nunez is 63. Actor Elizabeth Perkins and singer Kim Wilde are 61. Actor Tim Guinee and rock musician Kirk Hammett (Metallica) are 59. Rock singer Tim DeLaughter is 56. Actors Romany Malco, Owen Wilson and Dan Bakkedahl are 53. Singer Duncan Sheik is 52. Actors Mike Epps and Peta Wilson are 51. Actor Chloe Sevigny is 47. Country singer Jessi Alexander and actor Steven Pasquale are 45. Actor-director Nate Parker is 42. Rapper Mike Jones is 41. Actor Damon Wayans Jr. is 39. Country singer TJ Osborne (Brothers Osborne) is 37. U.S. Olympic track star Allyson Felix is 36. Fashion designer Christian Siriano is 36.