Today is Wednesday, September 21, the 264th day of 2022. There are 101 days left in the year.
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama— Today’s highlight in the story:
On September 21, 1981, the Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female Supreme Court justice.
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In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Joe Biden urged the nations of the world to tackle the global issues of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses .
A coroner has confirmed that the human remains found in remote northern Wyoming are those of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old man who disappeared on a cross-country trip with boyfriend Brian Laundrie. (Laundrie’s body would be found in a Florida swamp in October; the FBI later said he admitted to killing Petito in a notebook that was discovered upon hearing of his body).
Melvin Van Peebles, playwright, musician and director whose work ushered in the ‘blaxploitation’ movies of the 1970s, has died at his New York home; he was 89 years old.
Millions of people in Puerto Rico faced the prospect of weeks or months without power in the wake of Hurricane Maria. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss the ongoing crisis involving North Korea.
Facebook said it would provide congressional investigators with the content of 3,000 ads purchased by a Russian agency; he had previously released the ads to federal authorities investigating Russian interference in the US presidential election.
People lined up to buy Apple’s iPhone5 when it went on sale in the United States and several other countries. A man was bitten several times after jumping from a monorail in a tiger exhibit at the Bronx Zoo in New York.
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Also on this date:
In 1792, the French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.
In 1937, “The Hobbit”, by JRR Tolkien, was first published by George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. from London.
In 1938, a hurricane hit parts of New York and New England, causing extensive damage and killing some 700 people.
In 1957, the legal crime drama “Perry Mason”, starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS-TV.
In 1961, the first Boeing CH-47 Chinook military helicopter made its first hover flight.
In 1973, the United States Senate confirmed Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State.
In 1982, National Football League players went on a 57-day strike, their first regular season walkout.
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In 1985, in North and South Korea, family members separated for decades were allowed to visit each other as the two countries opened their borders under an unprecedented family reunification program.
In 1989, Hurricane Hugo slammed into Charleston, South Carolina (the storm claimed 56 lives in the Caribbean and 29 in the United States). Twenty-one students in Alton, Texas died when their school bus, hit by a soft drink delivery truck, slammed into a water-filled pit.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages, a day after saying the law should not be used as an excuse for discrimination, violence or intimidation against homosexuals. (Although it was never officially repealed, DoMA was effectively struck down by U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 2013 and 2015.)
In 2001, Congress again opened federal coffers to victims of terrorism, providing $15 billion to the airline industry, which had been suffering mounting economic losses since the September 11 attacks.
In 2011, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, two Americans imprisoned in Iran as spies, left Tehran for the Gulf state of Oman, capping a high-profile drama that brought more than two years of hope and grief to their families. The State of Texas has executed Lawrence Russell Brewer for his role in the horrific dragging death of James Byrd Jr.
