Today is Sunday, July 25, the 206th day of 2010. There are 159 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 25, 1960, a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, N.C. that had been the scene of a sit-in protest against its whites-only lunch counter dropped its segregation policy as it served three of its black employees at the counter.
On this date:
In 1866, Ulysses S. Grant was named General of the Army of the United States, the first officer to hold the rank.
In 1868, Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory.
In 1909, French aviator Louis Bleriot (bleh-ree-OH’) became the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel, traveling from Calais (kah-LAY’) to Dover in 37 minutes.
In 1946, the United States detonated an atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.
In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish passenger ship Stockholm off the New England coast late at night and began sinking; at least 51 people were killed.
In 1963, the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain initialed a treaty in Moscow prohibiting the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space or underwater.
In 1984, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya (sah-VEETS’-kah-yah) became the first woman to walk in space as she carried out more than three hours of experiments outside the orbiting space station Salyut 7.
In 1985, a spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirmed that the actor, hospitalized in Paris, was suffering from AIDS. (Hudson died in October 1985.)
In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan’s King Hussein (hoo-SAYN’) signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries’ 46-year-old formal state of war.
Ten years ago: A New York-bound Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground; it was the first-ever crash of the supersonic jet. The Middle East summit at Camp David collapsed over rival claims to East Jerusalem. Texas Gov. George W. Bush announced his choice of Dick Cheney to be his presidential running mate.
Five years ago: The AFL-CIO splintered as the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters announced they were leaving the labor federation. Cpl. Dustin Berg, an Indiana National Guard soldier, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the death of an Iraqi police officer (Berg was later sentenced to 18 months in military prison). Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed in an electrical accident while setting up camp for the organization’s Jamboree in Bowling Green, Va.
One year ago: President Barack Obama continued his full-court press to pass health care reform legislation, citing a new White House study indicating that small businesses were paying far more per employee for health insurance than big companies, a disparity the president said was “unsustainable” as well as “unacceptable.” Protesters across the world called on Iran to end its clampdown on opposition activists.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Barbara Harris is 75. Rock musician Jim McCarty (The Yardbirds) is 67. Rock musician Verdine White (Earth, Wind & Fire) is 59. Singer-musician Jem Finer (The Pogues) is 55. Model-actress Iman is 55. Cartoonist Ray Billingsley (“Curtis”) is 53. Rock musician Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) is 52. Actress-singer Bobbie Eakes is 49. Actress Katherine Kelly Lang (TV: “The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 49. Actress Illeana Douglas is 45. Country singer Marty Brown is 45. Actor Matt LeBlanc is 43. Rock musician Paavo Lotjonen (PAH’-woh LAHT’-joh-nehn) (Apocalyptica) is 42. Actor D.B. Woodside is 41.Actress Miriam Shor is 39. Actor James Lafferty (TV: “One Tree Hill”) is 25. Classical singer Faryl Smith is 15.
Thought for Today: “Life is not a matter of milestones, but of moments.” — Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890-1995).
