Today In History

Today is Saturday, April 24, the 114th day of 2021. There are 251 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1980: The United States launched an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.

ON THIS DATE

› 1800: Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.

› 1877: Federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North’s post-Civil War rule in the South.

› 1960: Rioting erupted in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Black protesters staging a “wade-in” at a whites-only beach were attacked by a crowd of hostile whites.

› 1962: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, California, and Westford, Massachusetts.

› 2003: China shut down a Beijing hospital as the global death toll from SARS surpassed 260.

› 2009: Mexico shut down schools, museums, libraries and state-run theaters across its overcrowded capital in hopes of containing a deadly swine flu outbreak.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Movie director-producer Richard Donner is 91. Actor Shirley MacLaine is 87. Rock musician Doug Clifford (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 76. R&B singer Ann Peebles is 74. Former Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny is 70. Actor-playwright Eric Bogosian is

68. Rock singer-musician Jack Blades (Night Ranger) is 67. Actor Michael O’Keefe is 66. Rock musician David J (Bauhaus) is 64. Actor Glenn Morshower is 62. Rock musician Billy Gould is

58. Actor Aidan Gillen is

53. Actor Melinda Clarke is 52. Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernandez is

50. Country-rock musician Brad Morgan (DriveBy Truckers) is 50. Rock musician Brian Marshall (Creed; Alter Bridge) is

48. Actor Derek Luke is

47. Actor-producer Thad Luckinbill is 46. Actor Eric Balfour is 44. Actor Rebecca Mader is 44. Country singer Rebecca Lynn Howard is 42. Country singer Danny Gokey is

41. Singer Kelly Clarkson is 39. Rock singer-musician Tyson Ritter (The All-American Rejects) is 37. Actor Joe Keery is

29. Actor Jack Quaid is

29. Actor Doc Shaw is 29. Actor Jordan Fisher is 27. Golfer Lydia Ko is 24.