Today in History: July 23, Souter chosen for high court
Today in History
Today is Saturday, July 23, the 204th day of 2022. There are 161 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 23, 1983, an Air Canada Boeing 767 ran out of fuel while flying from Montreal to Edmonton; the pilots were able to glide the jetliner to a safe emergency landing in Gimli, Manitoba. (The near-disaster occurred because the fuel had been erroneously measured in pounds instead of kilograms at a time when Canada was converting to the metric system.)
On this date:
In 1958, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II named the first four women to peerage in the House of Lords.
In 1967, five days of deadly rioting erupted in Detroit as an early morning police raid on an unlicensed bar resulted in a confrontation with local residents, escalating into violence that spread into other parts of the city; 43 people, mostly Blacks, were killed.
In 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were killed when a helicopter crashed on top of them during filming of a Vietnam War scene for “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” (Director John Landis and four associates were later acquitted of manslaughter charges.)
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush announced his choice of Judge David Souter of New Hampshire to succeed the retiring Justice William J. Brennan on the U.S. Supreme Court.
In 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, Kerri Strug made a heroic final vault despite torn ligaments in her left ankle as the U.S. women gymnasts clinched their first-ever Olympic team gold medal.
In 1997, the search for Andrew Cunanan (koo-NAN’-an), the suspected killer of designer Gianni Versace (JAH’-nee vur-SAH’-chee) and others, ended as police found his body on a houseboat in Miami Beach, an apparent suicide.
In 1999, space shuttle Columbia blasted off with the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope and Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a U.S. space flight.
In 2003, Massachusetts’ attorney general issued a report saying clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese probably had sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades.
In 2006, Tiger Woods became the first player since Tom Watson in 1982-83 to win consecutive British Open titles.
In 2011, singer Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead in her London home from accidental alcohol poisoning.
In 2019, Boris Johnson won the contest to lead Britain’s governing Conservative Party, putting him in line to become the country’s prime minister the following day.
In 2020, the virus-delayed and shortened major league baseball season began with the World Series champion Washington Nationals hosting the New York Yankees at an empty Nationals Park; Dr. Anthony Fauci threw out the ceremonial first ball. (The Yankees won, 4-1, in a game halted by rain.)
Ten years ago: His hair dyed a shocking comic-book shade of orange-red, James Holmes, the former doctoral student accused of killing 12 moviegoers at a showing of the new Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, appeared in court for the first time. (Holmes was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.) Penn State’s football program was all but leveled by penalties for its handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal as the NCAA imposed an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play and a cut in the number of football scholarships it could award. Sally Ride, 61, the first American woman in space, died in La Jolla (lah HOY’-ah), California.
Five years ago: A tractor trailer was found in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio, Texas, crammed with dozens of immigrants; ten died and many more were treated at a hospital for dehydration and heat stroke. (The driver, James Bradley Jr., was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to transporting the immigrants resulting in death.) President Donald Trump tweeted that he had “complete power” to issue pardons. Jordan Spieth won the British Open for his third career major championship.
One year ago: The Tokyo Olympics, delayed for a year by the pandemic, were officially declared open by Japan’s Emperor Naruhito; tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony. Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team, known as the Indians since 1915, announced that it would get a new name, the Guardians, at the end of the 2021 season; the change came amid a push for institutions and teams to drop logos and names that were considered racist.
Today’s Birthdays: Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is 86. Actor Ronny Cox is 84. Actor Larry Manetti is 79. Rock singer David Essex is 75. Singer-songwriter-politician John Hall is 74. Actor Belinda Montgomery is 72. Rock musician Blair Thornton (Bachman Turner Overdrive) is 72. Actor-writer Lydia Cornell is 69. Actor Woody Harrelson is 61. Rock musician Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) is 61. Actor Eriq Lasalle is 60. Rock musician Yuval Gabay is 59. Rock musician Slash is 57. Model-actor Stephanie Seymour is 54. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., is 53. Actor Charisma Carpenter is 52. R&B singer Sam Watters is 52. Country singer Alison Krauss is 51. R&B singer Dalvin DeGrate is 51. Rock musician Chad Gracey (Live) is 51. Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans is 50. Country singer Shannon Brown is 49. Actor Kathryn Hahn is 49. Retired MLB All-Star Nomar Garciaparra (NOH’-mar gar-SEE’-ah-par-rah) is 49. Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is 49. Actor Stephanie March is 48. Actor Shane McRae is 45. R&B singer Michelle Williams is 42. Actor Paul Wesley is 40. Actor Krysta Rodriguez is 38. Actor Daniel Radcliffe is 33. Country musician Neil Perry is 32. Actor Lili Simmons is 29. Country singer Danielle Bradbery (TV: “The Voice”) is 26.
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