AUGUST 1ST

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Today is Friday, August 1, the 214th day of 2008. There are 152 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 1, 1907, the U.S. Air Force had its beginnings as the U.S. Army Signal Corps established an aeronautical division.

On this date:

• In 1714, Britain's Queen Anne died at age 49; she was succeeded by George I.
• In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th state.
• In 1894, the First Sino-Japanese War erupted, the result of a dispute over control of Korea; Japan's army routed the Chinese.
• In 1933, the National Recovery Administration's "Blue Eagle" symbol began to appear in store windows and on packages to show support for the National Industrial Recovery Act.
• In 1936, the Olympic games opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.
• In 1944, an uprising broke out in Warsaw, Poland, against Nazi occupation, a revolt that lasted two months before collapsing.
• In 1946, President Truman signed the Fulbright Program into law, establishing the scholarships named for Sen. William J. Fulbright.
• In 1946, America's Atomic Energy Commission was established.
• In 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman, 25, went on a shooting rampage at the University of Texas in Austin, killing 14 people. Whitman, who had also murdered his wife and mother hours earlier, was gunned down by police.
• In 1988, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh began broadcasting his nationally syndicated radio program.

Ten years ago:

• Dismissing as "an empty promise" GOP-backed legislation to create a patients' bill of rights, President Clinton in his Saturday radio address pressed Congress to pass a measure that would allow patients to sue their health insurers.

Five years ago:

• A suicide bomber rammed a truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya.

One year ago:

• The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour, killing 13 people.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor-director Geoffrey Holder is 78.
• Singer Ramblin' Jack Elliott is 77.
• Cartoonist Tom Wilson (retired creator of "Ziggy") is 77.
• Actor-comedian Dom DeLuise is 75.
• Former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., is 71.
• Actor Giancarlo Giannini is 66.
• Blues singer-musician Robert Cray is 55.
• Singer Michael Penn is 50.
• Rock singer Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) is 49.
• Rock singer-musician Suzi Gardner (L7) is 48.
• Rapper Chuck D (Public Enemy) is 48.
• Actor Jesse Borrego is 46.
• Rapper Coolio is 45.
• Actor John Carroll Lynch is 45.
• Rock singer Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is 44.
• Movie director Sam Mendes is 43.
• Country singer George Ducas is 42. Country musician Charlie Kelley (Buffalo Club) is 40.
  
• Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is 35.
• Actor Jason Momoa is 29.
• Singer Ashley Parker Angel is 27.
• Actress Taylor Fry is 27.
• Actor James Francis Kelly is 19.

Thought for Today:

"People say law but they mean wealth."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet and philosopher (1803-1882).

"Let's all be careful out there!"