TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, Sept. 6, the 250th day of 2020. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today’s highlights in history

On Sept. 6, 1997, a public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris. In Calcutta, India, weeping masses gathered to pay homage to Mother Teresa, who had died the day before at age 87.

On this date

In 1888, diplomat and financier Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was born in Boston.

In 1901, President William Mckinley was shot and mortally

wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Panamerican Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. (Mckinley died eight days later; Czolgosz was executed on Oct. 29.)

In 1909, American explorer Robert Peary sent a telegram from Indian Harbor, Labrador, announcing that he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.

In 1916, the first self-serve grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in Memphis, Tenn., by Clarence Saunders.

In 1943, 79 people were killed when a New York-bound Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed and crashed in Philadelphia.

In 1972, the Summer Olympics resumed in Munich, West Germany, a day after the deadly hostage crisis that claimed the lives of eleven Israelis and five Arab abductors.

In 1985, all 31 people aboard a Midwest Express Airlines DC-9 were killed when the Atlantabound jetliner crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee's Mitchell Field.

In 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record by playing his two-thousand-131st consecutive game.

In 2002, meeting outside Washington, D.C., for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

In 2003, Justine Henin-hardenne won the all-belgian women's singles final at the U.S. Open, beating countrywoman Kim Clijsters, 7-5, 6-1.

In 2006, President George W. Bush acknowledged for the first time that the CIA was running secret prisons overseas

and said tough interrogation had forced terrorist leaders to reveal plots to attack the United States and its allies.

In 2007, opera star Luciano Pavarotti died in Modena, Italy, at the age of 71.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program that would have exceeded $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaignseason assault accusing Republicans of causing Americans' hard economic times. (The proposal ended up being blocked by Senate Republicans.)

Today’s birthdays

Comedian Joanne Worley is 85. Country singer David Allan Coe is 81. Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 77. Actor Swoosie Kurtz is

76. Comedian-actor Jane Curtin is 73. Rock musician Mick Mashbir is 72. Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 68. Actor James Martin Kelly is 66. Country musician Joe Smyth (Sawyer Brown) is

63. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 62. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow is 62. Rock musician Perry Bamonte is 60. Actor Steven Eckholdt is 59. Rock musician Scott Travis (Judas Priest) is 59. Pop musician Pal Waaktaar (a-ha) is 59. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 58. Rock musician Kevin Miller is 58. ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 58. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 57. Actor Betsy Russell is 57. Actor Rosie Perez is 56. Rhythm and blues singer Macy Gray is 53. Singer Cece Peniston is 51.Actor Idris Elba is 48. Actor Naomie Harris is 44.