Today is Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. Today’s birthdays

Today’s highlight in history

On Oct. 7, 2001, the war in Afghanistan started as the U.S. and Britain launched air attacks against military targets and Osama bin Laden’s training camps.

On this date

In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to draw up colonial grievances against England.

In 1849, author Edgar Allan Poe died at age 40.

In 1910, a wildfire devastated the northern Minnesota towns of Spooner and Baudette, charring at least 300,000 acres; some 40 people are believed to have died.

In 1954, Marian Anderson became the first Black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.

In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.

In 1991, University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill’s allegations.

In 1996, Fox News Channel made its debut.

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten and left tied to a wooden fencepost outside of Laramie, Wyo.; he died five days later.

In 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger their new governor.

In 2004, President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney conceded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue, arguing that Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program.

TV host Joy Behar is 79. Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North is 78. Singer John Mellencamp is 70. Russian President Vladimir Putin is 69. Actor Mary Badham is 69. Musician Yo-Yo Ma is 66. Singer Michael W. Smith is 64. Ice dancer Jayne Torvill is 64. Actor Dylan Baker is 63. Actor Judy Landers is 63. TV personality Simon Cowell is 62. Musician Charlie Marinkovich (Iron Butterfly) is 62. Singer Toni Braxton is 54. Singer Thom Yorke is 53. MLB player Evan Longoria is 36. MLB player Mookie Betts is 29.