World News
August 8, devastating wildfires in Maui
Today is Thursday, August 8, the 221st day of 2024. There are 145 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On August 8, 2023, a series of wind-driven wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui, destroying the town of Lahaina and killing more than 100 people.
Also on this date:
In 1814, during the War of 1812, peace talks between the United States and Great Britain began in Ghent, Belgium.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte left for Saint Helena to spend the rest of his days in exile.
In 1876, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric pen, the precursor to the mimeograph machine.
In 1908, Wilbur Wright gives the Wright Brothers’ first public flying demonstration at the Le Mans Race Course in France.
In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure that increased the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective in the next Congress, with the stipulation that two more would be added when New Mexico and Arizona became states.
In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place when thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds worth of banknotes.
In 1969, photographer Iain Macmillan took the iconic photo of The Beatles that would appear on the cover of their album ‘Abbey Road’.
In 1974, faced with damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon announced that he would resign the next day.
In 1988, Wrigley Field in Chicago hosted its first-ever night baseball game; the game between the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies would be rained out in the fourth inning.
In 2000, the wreck of the Confederate submarine HL Hunley, which sank in 1864 after an attack on the Union ship Housatonic, was recovered off the coast of South Carolina and returned to port.
In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the first Latin American and third female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 2022, FBI agents executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar al Lago in Palm Beach, Florida; more than 13,000 government documents, including 103 secret documents, were seized.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Actor Nita Talbot is 94.
- Actor Dustin Hoffman is 87.
- Actor Connie Stevens is 86.
- Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 86.
- Actor Larry Wilcox is 77.
- Actor Keith Carradine is 75.
- Film director Martin Brest is 73.
- Radio TV personality Robin Quivers is 72.
- US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is 71.
- Percussionist Anton Fig is 71.
- Actor Donny Most is 71.
- Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 67.
- TV personality Deborah Norville is 66.
- Rock musician The Edge (U2) is 63.
- Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 63.
- Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 62.
- Middle-distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton is 56.
- Rock singer Scott Stapp is 51.
- Country singer Mark Wills is 51.
- Actor Kohl Sudduth is 50.
- Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 49.
- Singer JC Chasez (‘N Sync) is 48.
- Actor Tawny Cypress is 48.
- R&B singer Drew Lachey (lah-SHAY’) (98 Degrees) is 48.
- R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius is 47.
- Actor Lindsay Sloane is 47.
- Actor Countess Vaughn is 46.
- Actor Michael Urie is 44.
- Tennis player Roger Federer is 43.
- Actor Meagan Good is 43.
- Actor Jackie Cruz (TV: “Orange is the New Black”) is 40.
- Britain’s Princess Beatrice of York is 36.
- Actor Ken Baumann is 35.
- New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is 35.
- Pop singer Shawn Mendes is 26.
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