Today in history

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 9, the 253rd day of 2020. There are 113 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 9, 1776, the second Continental Congress made the term “United States” official, replacing “United Colonies.”

On this date:

In 1543, Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots at Stirling Castle, nine months after she was born.

In 1850, California became the 31st state of the union.

In 1942, during World War II, a Japanese plane launched from a submarine off the Oregon coast dropped a pair of incendiary bombs in a failed attempt at igniting a massive forest fire; it was the first aerial bombing of the U.S. mainland by a foreign power.

In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared.

In 1956, Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives.

In 1986, Frank Reed, director of a private school in Lebanon, was taken hostage; he was released 44 months later.

In 1991, boxer Mike Tyson was indicted in Indianapolis on a charge of raping Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant. (Tyson was convicted and ended up serving three years of a six-year prison sentence.)

In 2005, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown, the principal target of harsh criticism of the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, was relieved of his onsite command.

In 2013, four days of vehicular gridlock began near the George Washington Bridge when two of three approach lanes from Fort Lee, New Jersey, were blocked off; the traffic jam was later blamed on loyalists to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over the refusal of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (SAHK’-ohlich) to endorse Christie for re-election.