Today is Friday, Sept. 11, the 255th day of 2020. There are 111 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 al-Qaida hijackers seized control of four jetliners, sending two of the planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in western Pennsylvania.

On this date:

In 1777, during the American Revolution, forces under Gen. George Washington were defeated by the British in the Battle of Brandywine.

In 1789, Alexander Hamilton was appointed the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.

In 1936, Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator.

In 2008, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama put aside politics as they visited ground zero together on the anniversary of 9/11 to honor its victims.

In 2012, a mob armed with guns and grenades launched a fiery nightlong attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost and a CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Earl Holliman is 92. Comedian Tom Dreesen is 81. Movie director Brian De Palma is 80. Singer-actor-dancer Lola Falana is 78. Rock musician Mickey Hart (The Dead) is 77. Guitarist Leo Kottke is 75. Actor Amy Madigan is 70. Rock singer-musician Tommy Shaw (Styx) is 67. Sports reporter Lesley Visser is 67. Actor Kristy McNichol is 58. Business reporter Maria Bartiromo is 53. Singer Harry Connick Jr. is 53.