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Today is Thursday, June 7, the 159th day of 2012. There are 207 days left in the year.
Highlights in History
On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, a “Creole of color,” was arrested and fined for refusing to leave a whites-only car of the East Louisiana Railroad; his case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which at the time upheld “separate but equal” racial segregation, a concept overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education.
On this date
In 1654, King Louis XIV, age 15, was crowned in Rheims, 11 years after the start of his reign.
In 1712, Pennsylvania’s colonial assembly voted to ban the further importation of slaves.
In 1769, frontiersman Daniel Boone first began to explore present-day Kentucky.
In 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution stating “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.”
In 1862, William Bruce Mumford, a Confederate loyalist, was hanged at the order of Union military authorities for tearing down a U.S. flag that had been flying over the New Orleans mint shortly before the city was occupied by the North.
In 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.
In 1937, actress Jean Harlow died in Los Angeles at age 26.
In 1942, the World War II Battle of Midway ended in a decisive victory for American forces over the Imperial Japanese.
In 1967, the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic opened in San Francisco.
In 1972, the musical “Grease” opened on Broadway, having already been performed in lower Manhattan.
In 1981, Israeli military planes destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons.
In 1998, in a crime that shocked the nation, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was hooked by a chain to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. (Two white men were later sentenced to death for the crime; a third received life with the possibility of parole.)
Ten years ago
A yearlong hostage crisis in the Philippines involving a U.S. missionary couple came to a bloody end as Filipino commandos managed to save only one of three captives, American Gracia Burnham. Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was convicted in Norwalk, Conn., of beating Greenwich (GREH’-nihch) neighbor Martha Moxley to death when they were 15 in 1975. (Skakel, who continues to maintain his innocence, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.)
Top News
Today in History for Thursday, June 7, 2012
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VDT Weekend Update
News Reporter Caitlin Barker speaks to Bernard Bulemu and Eric Mathis, representatives from the South Georgia Regional Library about their summer programs for kids, teens and adults during the month of June, as well as lists fun summer camps taking place in the Valdosta area.
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Man shot by FBI had ties to Boston bombing suspect
A Chechen immigrant shot to death in Florida after an altercation with an FBI agent implicated himself in a triple slaying that officials believe may have been connected to Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, authorities said.
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WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus
International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
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Jurors deadlock on Jodi Arias penalty; retrial set
Jurors who spent five months determining Jodi Arias’ fate couldn’t decide whether she should get life in prison or die for murdering her boyfriend, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case of sex, lies and violence to another 12 people.
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Lt. Gov. visits Valdosta
Lt. Governor Casey Cagle delivered a message of optimism and preference for prudent investments for Valdosta and Lowndes County Thursday morning, which he is confident will pull Georgia out of recession, build jobs and launch Valdosta into a new business heyday.
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I-5 bridge collapses in Washington state
An Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed Thursday evening, dumping vehicles and people into the water, the Washington State Patrol said.
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Today in History for Friday, May 24, 2013
Today is Friday, May 24, the 144th day of 2013. There are 221 days left in the year.
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Parents fuming over locked doors at graduation
Several parents of Spelman College graduates are furious after locked doors prevented them from seeing their children’s commencement.
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Octogenarians race to be oldest Everest climber
An 80-year-old Japanese extreme skier who climbed Mount Everest five years ago, but just missed becoming the oldest man to reach the summit, is back on the mountain to make another attempt at the title.
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When is it OK for wunderkinds to drop out of school?
It's one thing to say tech geniuses don't need degrees. After all, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college. But now we've got David Karp, who doesn't even have a high school diploma.
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