TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2022. Today’s highlight in history
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.
On this date
In 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. In 1914, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis was born in Lafayette, Ala.
In 1917, three shepherd children reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary near Fatima, Portugal; it was the first of six such apparitions that the children claimed to have witnessed.
In 1940, in his first speech as British prime minister, Winston Churchill told Parliament, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
In 1972, 118 people died after fire broke out at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka, Japan.
In 1973, in tennis’ first socalled “Battle of the Sexes,” Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona. (Billie Jean King soundly defeated Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in September.)
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group’s row house, igniting a fire that killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun; Breyer went on to win Senate confirmation.
In 2016, the Obama administration issued a directive requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity.
In 2019, actor-singer Doris Day died at age 97.
In 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ coronavirus stay-at-home order, ruling that his administration had overstepped its authority by extending the order for another month.
Today’s birthdays
Actor Buck Taylor is 84. Actor Harvey Keitel is 83. Author Charles Baxter is 75. Actor Franklyn Ajaye is 73. Singer Stevie Wonder is 72. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich is 70. Actor Leslie Winston is 66. Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is 61. TV host Stephen Colbert is 58. Singer Darius Rucker is 56. Actor-writerdirector Lena Dunham is 36. Actor Robert Pattinson is 36.