Monday, Sept. 1, is the 244th day of 2014. There are 121 days left in the year. This is Labor Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:On September 1, 1939, World War II began as Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
On this date:
In 1159, Pope Adrian IV, the only English pope, died.
In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was found not guilty of treason. (Burr was then tried on a
misdemeanor charge, but was again acquitted.)
In 1894, the Great Hinckley Fire destroyed Hinckley, Minnesota, and five other communities, killing more
than 400 people.
In 1914, the last passenger pigeon in captivity, "Martha," died at the Cincinnati Zoo.
In 1923, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some
140,000 lives.
In 1932, New York City Mayor James J. "Gentleman Jimmy" Walker resigned following charges of
graft and corruption in his administration.
In 1942, U.S. District Court Judge Martin I. Welsh, ruling from Sacramento, California, upheld the
wartime detention of Japanese-Americans and Japanese nationals.
In 1951, the United States, Australia and New Zealand signed a mutual defense pact, the ANZUS treaty.
In 1969, a coup in Libya brought Moammar Gadhafi to power.
In 1976, U.S. Rep. Wayne L. Hays, D-Ohio, resigned in the wake of a scandal in which he admitted having
an affair with "secretary" Elizabeth Ray.
In 1983, 269 people were killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter
after the airliner entered Soviet airspace.
In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti died of a heart attack at his summer home in Martha’s
Vineyard, Massachusetts, at age 51.
Ten years ago: More than 1,000 people were taken hostage by heavily armed Chechen militants at a school
in Beslan in southern Russia; more than 330 people, more than half of them children, were killed in the
three-day ordeal. The criminal case against Kobe Bryant collapsed as prosecutors in Colorado dropped a
sexual assault charge against the NBA star, saying they had no choice because the accuser no longer
wanted to participate.
Five years ago: Vermont’s law allowing same-sex marriage went into effect. Poland held ceremonies marking
the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II.
One year ago: Syria derided President Barack Obama’s decision to hold off on punitive military strikes,
while the Obama administration countered that its case for military action against the regime of
President Bashar Assad was getting stronger, saying it had evidence that the nerve agent sarin was used
in a deadly August attack. Former South African President Nelson Mandela left a hospital after nearly
three months of treatment there.