Today is Thursday, Dec. 30, the 364th day of 2021. There is one day left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 30, 1922, Vladimir Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which lasted nearly seven decades before dissolving in December 1991.
On this date:
In 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.
In 1903, about 600 people died when fire broke out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago.
In 1999, former Beatle George Harrison fought off a knife-wielding intruder who’d broken into his mansion west of London and stabbed him in the chest. (The attacker was later acquitted of attempted murder by reason of insanity.)
In 2004, a fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 194 people. Bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died in Thousand Oaks, California, at age 94.
In 2006, a state funeral service was held in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for former President Gerald R. Ford.
In 2015, Bill Cosby was charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004; it was the first criminal case brought against the comedian out of the torrent of allegations that destroyed his good-guy image as “America’s Dad.” (Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked; he was convicted on three charges at his retrial in April 2018 and was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June 2021 and Cosby went free.)
Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax is 86. Folk singer Noel Paul Stookey is 84. TV director James Burrows is 81. Actor Fred Ward is 79. Singer Patti Smith is 75. Rock singer-musician Jeff Lynne is 74. TV personality Meredith Vieira is 68. Country singer Suzy Bogguss is 65. Actor-comedian Tracey Ullman is 62. Radio-TV commentator Sean Hannity is 60. Sprinter Ben Johnson is 60. Golfer Tiger Woods is 46. TV personality-boxer Laila Ali is 44. NBA star LeBron James is 37.
