On this day, Nov. 18
1883 The United States and Canada adopted a system of standard time zones.
1936 Germany and Italy recognized the Spanish government of Francisco Franco.
1963 The Bell System introduced the first commercial touch-tone telephone system in Carnegie and Greensburg.
1966 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent.
1976 Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.
1978 U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan, of California, and four others were killed on an airstrip in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide resulting in the deaths of more than 900 cult members.
1985 The comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” created by Bill Watterson, was first published. (The strip ran for 10 years.)
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.
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.
1999 12 people were killed when a bonfire under construction at Texas A&M University collapsed. A jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted Shawn Allen Berry of murder for his role in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr., but spared him the death penalty.
2003 The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled, 4-3, that the state constitution guaranteed gay couples the right to marry.
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.
2020 President Donald Trump filed for a recount of Wisconsin’s two largest Democratic counties, paying the required $3 million cost and alleging that they were the sites of the “worst irregularities” although no evidence of illegal activity had been presented. (The recounts resulted in a slightly larger lead for Democrat Joe Biden.)
Today’s birthdays: Actor Brenda Vaccaro, 83. Author-poet Margaret Atwood, 83. Actor Linda Evans, 80. Actor Susan Sullivan, 80. Country singer Jacky Ward, 76. Actor Jameson Parker, 75. Actor-singer Andrea Marcovicci, 74. Rock musician Herman Rarebell, 73. Singer Graham Parker, 72. Actor Delroy Lindo, 70. Comedian Kevin Nealon, 69. Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, 66. Actor Oscar Nunez, 64. Actor Elizabeth Perkins, 62. Singer Kim Wilde, 62. Actor Tim Guinee, 60. Rock musician Kirk Hammett (Metallica), 60. Rock singer Tim DeLaughter, 57. Author and lecturer Brené Brown, 57. Actor Romany Malco, 54. Actor Owen Wilson, 54. Actor Dan Bakkedahl, 54. Singer Duncan Sheik, 53. Actor Mike Epps, 52. Actor Peta Wilson, 52. Actor Chloe Sevigny, 48. Country singer Jessi Alexander, 46. Actor Steven Pasquale, 46. Rapper Fabolous, 45. Actor-director Nate Parker, 43. Rapper Mike Jones, 42. Actor Mekia Cox, 41. Actor-comedian Nasim Pedrad, 41. Actor Allison Tolman, 41. Actor Christina Vidal, 41. Actor Damon Wayans Jr., 40. Country singer TJ Osborne (Brothers Osborne), 38. U.S. Olympic track star Allyson Felix, 37. Fashion designer Christian Siriano, 37. Actor Nathan Kress, 30.