Today is Tuesday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2021. There are 87 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Oct. 5, 1989, a jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, convicted former P-T-L evangelist Jim Bakker (BAY’-kur) of using his television show to defraud followers. (Although initially sentenced to 45 years in prison, Bakker was freed in December 1994 after serving 4 1/2 years.)
On this date:
In 1931, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon completed the first non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Washington state some 41 hours after leaving Japan.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.
In 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
In 1958, racially-desegregated Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, was mostly leveled by an early morning bombing.
In 2001, tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens died from inhaled anthrax, the first of a series of anthrax cases in Florida, New York, New Jersey and Washington.
In 2005, defying the White House, senators voted 90-9 to approve an amendment sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would prohibit the use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” against anyone in U.S. government custody. (A reluctant President George W. Bush later signed off on the amendment.)
In 2017, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation extending protections for immigrants living in the United States illegally; police in California would be barred from asking people about their immigration status or taking part in federal immigration enforcement activities.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Glynis Johns is 98. College Football Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer is 84. Singer-musician Steve Miller is 78. Sen. Rock singer Brian Johnson (AC/DC) is 74. Actor Karen Allen is 70. Astrophysicist-author Neil deGrasse Tyson is 63. Memorial designer Maya Lin is 62. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 56. Actor Kate Winslet is 46. TV personality Nicky Hilton is 38.
