TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, April 24, the 115th day of 2024. There are 251 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On April 24, 1995, the final bomb linked to the Unabomber exploded inside the Sacramento offices of a lobbying group for the wood products industry, killing chief lobbyist Gilbert B. Murray. (Theodore Kaczynski was later sentenced to four lifetimes in prison for a series of bombings that killed three people and injured 29 others.)
1915 — In what’s considered the start of the Armenian genocide, the Ottoman Empire began rounding up Armenian political and cultural leaders in Constantinople.
1960 — Rioting erupted in Biloxi, Miss., after Black protesters staging a “wade-in” at a whites-only beach were attacked by a crowd of hostile white people.
1967 — Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when his Soyuz 1 spacecraft smashed into the Earth after his parachutes failed to deploy properly during re-entry; he was the first human spaceflight fatality.
1980 — The United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight US servicemen.
1990 — The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.
2018 — Former police officer Joseph DeAngelo was arrested at his home near Sacramento after DNA linked him to crimes attributed to the so-called Golden State Killer; authorities believed he committed 13 murders and more than 50 rapes in the 1970s and 1980s. (DeAngelo would plead guilty in 2020 to 13 counts of murder and be sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Shirley MacLaine is 90. Actor-singer-director Barbra Streisand is 82. Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is 82. Country singer Richard Sterban (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 81. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 79. R&B singer Ann Peebles is 77. Former Irish TaoiseachEnda Kenny is
73. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is 71. Rock singer-musician Jack Blades (Night Ranger) is
70. Actor Michael O’Keefe is 69. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 67. Actor Glenn Morshower is 65. Rock musician Billy Gould is 61. Actor-comedian Cedric the Entertainer is 60. Actor Djimon Hounsou is 60. Rock musician Patty Schemel (Hole) is 57. Actor Stacy Haiduk is 56. Rock musician Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors) is 56. Actor Aidan Gillen is 56. Actor Melinda Clarke is 55. Actor Rory McCann is
55. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is 53. Country-rock musician Brad Morgan (Drive-By Truckers) is 53. Rock musician Brian Marshall (Creed; Alter Bridge) is 51. Actor Derek Luke is 50. Actor-producer Thad Luckinbill is 49. Actor Eric Balfour is 47. Actor Rebecca Mader is 47. Country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard is
45. Country singer Danny Gokey is 44. Actor Reagan Gomez is 44. Actor Austin Nichols is
44. Actor Sasha Barrese is 43. Contemporary Christian musician Jasen Rauch (Red) is 43. Singer Kelly Clarkson is 42. Rock singer-musician Tyson Ritter (The All-American Rejects) is
40. Country singer Carly Pearce is 34.
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