AUGUST 9TH

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Today is Saturday, August 9, the 222nd day of 2008.
There are 144 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.

On this date:

• In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
• In 1848, the Free-Soil Party convened in Buffalo, N.Y., where it nominated Martin Van Buren for president.
• In 1854, Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," which described his experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published.
• In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
• In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.
• In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally murdered in Tate's Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.
• In 1974, President Nixon's resignation took effect. Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation's 38th chief executive.
• In 1988, President Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education; Cavazos became the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet.
• In 1995, Jerry Garcia, lead singer of the Grateful Dead, died in San Francisco of a heart attack at age 53.
• In 1997, Haitian immigrant Abner Louima was brutalized in a Brooklyn, N.Y., stationhouse by Officer Justin Volpe, who raped him with a broken broomstick. (Volpe was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.)

Ten years ago:

• Americans, Kenyans and Tanzanians held church and memorial services to mourn those killed in a pair of U.S. embassy bombing attacks.
• In China, engineers dynamited levees along the Yangtze River to ease the worst floods in 44 years.

Five years ago:

• The Army fired up its first chemical weapons incinerator located near a residential area, outside Anniston, Ala., to destroy two rockets loaded with enough sarin nerve agent to wipe out a city.
• Dancer-actor Gregory Hines died in Los Angeles at age 57.

One year ago:

• President Bush held a news conference in which he publicly prodded Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, his embattled war-on-terror partner, to hold free presidential elections, share intelligence and take "swift action" against terrorist leaders pinpointed in his country.
• China banned exports by two toy manufacturers whose products were subject to major recalls in the United States.
• David Beckham made his long-awaited Major League Soccer debut, entering in the 72nd minute of the Los Angeles Galaxy's 1-0 loss to D.C. United.

Today's Birthdays:

• Former baseball manager Ralph Houk is 89.
• Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 66.
• Comedian-director David Steinberg is 66.
• Actor Sam Elliott is 64.
• Singer Barbara Mason is 61.
• Actress Melanie Griffith is 51.
• Actress Amanda Bearse is 50.
• Rapper Kurtis Blow is 49.
• Singer Whitney Houston is 45.
• TV host Hoda Kotb is 44.
• Actor Pat Petersen is 42.
• Football player Deion Sanders is 41.
• Actress Gillian Anderson is 40.
• Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 66.
• Comedian-d
• Actor Eric Bana is 40.
• TV anchor Chris Cuomo is 38.
• Rock musician Arion Salazar (Third Eye Blind) is 38.
• Rapper Mack 10 is 37.
• Latin rock singer Juanes is 36.
• Actress Liz Vassey is 36.
• Actress Rhona Mitra is 33.
• Actress Jessica Capshaw is 32.

Thought for Today:

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
Henry David Thoreau, American author (1817-1862).

"Let's all be careful out there!"