Today is Saturday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2023. There are 232 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca (MEH’-met AH’-lee AH’-juh).
On this date:
In 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).
In 1914, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis was born in Lafayette, Alabama.
In 1917, three shepherd children reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary near Fatima, Portugal; it was the first of six such apparitions that the children claimed to have witnessed.
In 1940, in his first speech as British prime minister, Winston Churchill told Parliament, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
In 1972, 118 people died after fire broke out at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka, Japan.
In 1973, in tennis’ first so-called “Battle of the Sexes,” Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona, California. (Billie Jean King soundly defeated Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in September.)
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group’s row house, igniting a fire that killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun; Breyer went on to win Senate confirmation.
In 2002, President George W. Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin (POO’-tihn) would sign a treaty to shrink their countries’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.
In 2016, the Obama administration issued a directive requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity.
In 2019, Doris Day, the sunny blond film star and singer who appeared in comedic roles opposite Rock Hudson and Cary Grant in the 1950s and 1960s, died at her California home at the age of 97.
In 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ coronavirus stay-at-home order, ruling that his administration had overstepped its authority by extending the order for another month.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama tried to swat down a pair of brewing controversies, denouncing as “outrageous” the targeting of conservative political groups by the IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his clinic (Gosnell is serving a life sentence). The Associated Press sent a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder after the Justice Department told the news agency it had secretly obtained two months of telephone records of AP reporters and editors. Psychologist Joyce Brothers, 85, died in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump said he would help the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE get “back into business”; the Commerce Department had earlier moved to block the company from importing American components. Officials in Hawaii called for more evacuations near the Kilauea volcano amid signs of an imminent eruption at the volcano’s summit. (The eruption came four days later.) The body of 69-year-old “Superman” actress Margot Kidder was found by a friend near her Montana home in what was later ruled a suicide from a drug and alcohol overdose.
One year ago: Russia suffered heavy losses when Ukrainian forces destroyed the pontoon bridge enemy troops were using to try to cross a river in the east, Ukrainian and British officials said in another sign of Moscow’s struggle to salvage a war gone awry. Israeli police moved in on a crowd of mourners at the funeral of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, beating demonstrators with batons and causing pallbearers to briefly drop the casket. The crackdown came during a rare show of Palestinian nationalism in east Jerusalem. Former White House national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane, a top aide to President Ronald Reagan who pleaded guilty to charges for his role in the illegal arms-for-hostages deal known as the Iran-Contra affair, died at age 84.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Buck Taylor is 85. Actor Harvey Keitel is 84. Author Charles Baxter is 76. Actor Zoe Wanamaker is 75. Actor Franklyn Ajaye is 74. Singer Stevie Wonder is 73. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich is 71. Actor Leslie Winston is 67. Producer-writer Alan Ball is 66. Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is 62. “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert is 59. Rock musician John Richardson is 59. Actor Tom Verica is 59. Singer Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 57. Actor Susan Floyd is 55. Actor Brian Geraghty is 48. Actor Samantha Morton is 46. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is 46. Former NBA player Mike Bibby is 45. Rock musician Mickey Madden (Maroon 5) is 44. Actor Iwan Rheon is 38. Actor-writer-director Lena Dunham is 37. Actor Robert Pattinson is 37. Actor Candice Accola King is 36. Actor Hunter Parrish is 36. Folk-rock musician Wylie Gelber (Dawes) is 35. NHL defenseman P.K. Subban is 35. Actor Debby Ryan is 30.
