CROSSWORD

Today is Sunday, Oct. 2, the 276th day of 2016. There are 90 days left in the year. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, begins at sunset.

Highlight in History:

On Oct. 2, 1941, during World War II, German armies launched an all-out drive against Moscow; Soviet forces succeeded in holding onto their capital.

On this date:

In 1780, British spy John Andre was hanged in Tappan, New York, during the Revolutionary War.

In 1835, the first battle of the Texas Revolution took place as American settlers fought Mexican soldiers near the Guadalupe River; the Mexicans ended up withdrawing.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a serious stroke at the White House that left him paralyzed on his left side.

In 1944, German troops crushed the two-month-old Warsaw Uprising, during which a quarter of a million people had been killed.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court as the court opened its new term.

In 1996, an Aero Peru Boeing 757 crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 61 passengers and nine crew members on board.

In 2002, the Washington D.C.-area sniper attacks began, setting off a frantic manhunt lasting three weeks.

Ten years ago: Charles Carl Roberts IV, a milk truck driver, took a group of girls hostage in an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., fatally shooting five of them before committing suicide.

Five years ago: Syrian dissidents formally established a broad-based national council designed to overthrow President Bashar Assad’s regime, which they accused of pushing the country to the brink of civil war.

One year ago: President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t sign another temporary government funding bill after the current one expired Dec. 11, insisting that congressional Republicans and Democrats work out a long-term budget deal with the White House.

Today’s Birthdays: Retired MLB All-Star Maury Wills is 84. Singer-songwriter Don McLean is 71. Fashion designer Donna Karan is 68. Photographer Annie Leibovitz is 67. Singer-actor Sting is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Freddie Jackson is 58. Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien is 54. Actress-talk show host Kelly Ripa is 46. Singer Tiffany is 45.

Thought for Today: “Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.” — Graham Greene, English writer (1904-1991).