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History

Local History

10 years ago: Design Homes won the Lower Division Park and Rec. Summer Co-Rec. softball league.

5 years ago: ‘Lonesome Ron’ Affolter of Mankato sang cowboy and folk songs, yodeled, and told stories at the Harkin Store.

1 year ago: The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality alert for southwest, western and central Minnesota because of smoke from Canadian wildfires.

And elsewhere…

Today is Sunday, Sept. 2, the 245th day of 2018. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

On this date:

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces occupied Atlanta.

In 1930, the first nonstop airplane flight from Europe to the U.S. was completed in 37 hours as Capt. Dieudonne Costes and Maurice Bellonte of France arrived in Valley Stream, New York, aboard their Breguet 19 biplane, which bore the symbol of a large question mark.

In 1935, a Labor Day hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys, claiming more than 400 lives.

In 1944, during World War II, Navy pilot Lt. (jg) George Herbert Walker Bush was shot down by Japanese forces as he completed a bombing run over the Bonin Islands. (Bush was rescued by the crew of the submarine USS Finback; his two crew members, however, died.)

In 1960, Wilma Rudolph of the United States won the first of her three gold medals at the Rome Summer Olympics as she finished the 100-meter dash in 11 seconds.

In 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

In 1969, in what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable. The first automatic teller machine (ATM) to utilize magnetic-striped cards was opened to the public at Chemical Bank in New York. (Called a “Docuteller,” it was developed by Donald C. Wetzel.)

In 1996, Muslim rebels and the Philippine government signed a pact formally ending a 26-year insurgency that killed more than 120-thousand people.

In 2005, A National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina. Scorched by criticism about sluggish federal help, President George W. Bush toured the Gulf Coast and met with state and local officials, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; at one point, Bush praised FEMA Director Michael Brown, telling him, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

Ten years ago: Republicans assailed Barack Obama as the most liberal, least experienced White House nominee in history at their convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, and enthusiastically extolled their own man, John McCain, as ready to lead the nation.

Today’s Birthdays: Dancer-actress Marge Champion is 99. Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is 70. Actor Mark Harmon is 67. Tennis Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors is 66. Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson is 58. Actor Keanu Reeves is 54. Actress Salma Hayek is 52. Actress Tiffany Hines is 41. Rock musician Sam Rivers (Limp Bizkit) is 41. Actor Jonathan Kite is 39. Actress Allison Miller is 33. Rock musician Spencer Smith is 31.

Thought for Today: “If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, dramatist and author (1749-1832).

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