Local History

50 years ago: Robert Brunner, who stages a great recovery after having his left leg and hip amputated, was named one of “Vocational Rehabilitants of the Year.”

10 years ago: Peter Roufs became the new principal at Cathedral High School in New Ulm.

5 years ago: Mark Daly joined the New Ulm Park and Recreation Department as the recreation programs supervisor.

1 year ago: Mike Wolfe, Frank Fritz, and their team announced their return to Minnesota to film episodes of ‘American Pickers’ throughout the state.

And elsewhere…

Today is Sunday, Sept. 9, the 252nd day of 2018. There are 113 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Sept. 9, 1850, California became the 31st state of the union.

On this date:

In 1543, Mary Stuart was crowned Queen of Scots at Stirling Castle, nine months after she was born.

In 1776, the second Continental Congress made the term “United States” official, replacing “United Colonies.”

In 1919, some 1,100 members of Boston’s 1,500-man police force went on strike. (The strike was broken by Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge with replacement officers.)

In 1942, during World War II, a Japanese plane launched from a submarine off the Oregon coast dropped a pair of incendiary bombs in a failed attempt at igniting a massive forest fire; it was the first aerial bombing of the U.S. mainland by a foreign power.

In 1948, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was declared.

In 1956, Elvis Presley made the first of three appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill to pass Congress since Reconstruction, a measure primarily concerned with protecting voting rights and which also established a Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.

In 1971, prisoners seized control of the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, beginning a siege that ended up claiming 43 lives.

In 1976, Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong died in Beijing at age 82.

In 1991, boxer Mike Tyson was indicted in Indianapolis on a charge of raping Desiree Washington, a beauty pageant contestant. (Tyson was convicted and ended up serving three years of a six-year prison sentence.)

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush announced he would keep U.S. force strength in Iraq largely intact until the next administration, drawing rebukes from Democrats who wanted the war ended and a bigger boost of troops in troubled Afghanistan.

Five years ago: Four days of vehicular gridlock began near the George Washington Bridge when two of three approach lanes from Fort Lee, New Jersey, were blocked off; the traffic jam was later blamed on loyalists to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over the refusal of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich to endorse Christie for re-election. (Christie denied any prior knowledge of the lane closures.)

One year ago: Hurricane Irma hammered Cuba with punishing winds and rain as it headed toward the Florida Keys and the southeastern United States; hundreds of shelters opened in Florida for people looking to escape the potentially deadly winds and storm surge.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Sylvia Miles is 84. Actor Topol is 83. Actor Hugh Grant is 58. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., is 55. Actor Adam Sandler is 52. Model Rachel Hunter is 49. Actor Henry Thomas is 47. Pop-jazz singer Michael Buble’ is 43. Actress Michelle Williams is 38. Actress Julie Gonzalo is 37. Actress Zoe Kazan is 35. Author-motivational speaker-businessman Farrah Gray is 34. Contemporary Christian singer Lauren Daigle is 27. Country singer-songwriter Hunter Hayes is 27.

Thought for Today: “To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.” — Helen Rowland, American writer, journalist and humorist (1876-1950).