TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, Nov. 23, the 327th day of 2022. There are 38 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Nov. 23, 1971, the People’s Republic of China was seated in the UN Security Council.
1889 — The first jukebox made its debut in San Francisco, at the Palais Royale Saloon. (The coin-operated device consisted of four listening tubes attached to an Edison phonograph.)
1963 — President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Nov. 25 a day of national mourning following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
2000 — In a setback for Al Gore, the Florida Supreme Court refused to order Miami-Dade County officials to resume hand-counting its election-day ballots. Meanwhile, Gore’s lawyers argued in a brief filed with the US Supreme Court that the high court should stay out of the Florida election controversy.
2006 — Former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radiation poisoning after making a deathbed statement blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin.
2008 — The government unveiled a bold plan to rescue Citigroup, injecting a fresh $20 billion into the troubled firm as well as guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in risky assets.
2020 — The federal government recognized Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election, formally starting the transition of power; President Donald Trump still refused to concede and vowed to continue a court fight after General Services Administrator Emily Murphy gave the green light for Biden to coordinate with federal agencies ahead of his inauguration. Michigan certified Biden’s win in the battleground state.
Ten years ago — Actor Larry Hagman, best known for playing the scheming oil baron J.R. Ewing on TV’s “Dallas,” died in Dallas at the age of 81.
One year ago — A jury in Virginia ordered 17 white nationalist leaders and organizations to pay more than $26 million in damages over the violence that erupted during the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. A federal jury in Cleveland found that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties. (A judge awarded $650 million in damages.) NASA launched a spacecraft on a mission to smash into an asteroid and test whether it would be possible to knock a speeding space rock off course. (NASA said the mission was a success.) President Joe Biden ordered a record 50 million barrels of oil released from America’s strategic reserve, aiming to bring down gasoline and other costs. The only person convicted in the 2007 murder in Italy of British student Meredith Kercher, Rudy Guede, was freed after serving most of his 16-year prison sentence.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Franco Nero is 81. Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 78. Actor-comedy writer Bruce Vilanch is 75. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is 72. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 68. Former Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is 67. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 63. Actor John Henton is 62. TV personality Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 62. Actor Salli Richardson-Whitfield is 55. Actor Oded Fehr is 52. Rapper-actor Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 50. Actor Page Kennedy is 46. Actor Kelly Brook is 43. Actor Lucas Grabeel is 38. TV personality Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is 35. Actor-singer Miley Cyrus is 30. Actor Olivia Keville (TV: “Splitting Up Together”) is 20.