SEPTEMBER 25TH

Today is Thursday, Sept. 25, the 269th day of 2008.
There are 97 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Sept. 25, 1789, the first United States Congress adopted 12 amendments to the Constitution and sent them to the states for ratification. (Ten of the amendments became the Bill of Rights.)

On this date:

• In 1493, Christopher Columbus set sail from Cadiz, Spain, with a flotilla of 17 ships on his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere.
• In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and sighted the Pacific Ocean.
• In 1690, one of the earliest American newspapers, Publick Occurrences, published its first — and last — edition in Boston.
• In 1775, American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen was captured by the British as he led an attack on Montreal.
• In 1890, Wilford Woodruff, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, issued a Manifesto formally renouncing the practice of polygamy.
• In 1919, President Wilson collapsed after a speech in Pueblo, Colo., during a national speaking tour in support of the Treaty of Versailles.
• In 1956, the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable went into service.
• In 1957, nine black students who'd been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., because of unruly white crowds were escorted to class by members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
• In 1978, 144 people were killed when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collided over San Diego.
• In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor was sworn in as the first female justice on the Supreme Court.

Ten years ago:

• Hurricane Georges raked the Florida Keys with sheets of rain and 105 mph winds, but spared Florida the kind of devastation seen across the Caribbean.
• Mark McGwire hit his 66th home run, just 45 minutes after Sammy Sosa hit his 66th homer of the season.

Five years ago:

• France reported a staggering death toll of 14,802 from the summer heat wave.
• An Islamic court in Nigeria overturned the conviction of an illiterate mother sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex out of wedlock.
• Aquila al-Hashimi of the Iraqi Governing Council died five days after being shot by assailants.
• Fifteen people died in a nursing home fire in Nashville, Tenn.
• Author, journalist and editor George Plimpton died in New York at age 76.
• Nobel-winning economist Franco Modigliani died in Cambridge, Mass., at age 85.

One year ago:

• Warren Jeffs, the leader of a polygamous Mormon splinter group, was convicted in St. George, Utah, of being an accomplice to rape for performing a wedding between a 19-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl. (Jeffs was later sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison.)
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, addressing the United Nations, announced "the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed," and indicated Tehran would disregard Security Council resolutions imposed by what he called "arrogant powers."
• Japan's lower house of parliament elected Yasuo Fukuda prime minister.

Today's Birthdays:

• Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters is 79.
• Folk singer Ian Tyson is 75.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Joe Russell is 69.
• Defense Secretary Robert Gates is 65.
• Actor Robert Walden is 65.
• Actor-producer Michael Douglas is 64.
• Model Cheryl Tiegs is 61.
• Actress Mimi Kennedy is 59.
• Actor-director Anson Williams is 59.
• Actor Mark Hamill is 57.
• Polka bandleader Jimmy Sturr is 57.
• Actor Colin Friels is 56.
• Actor Michael Madsen is 50.
• Actress Heather Locklear is 47.
• Actress Aida Turturro is 46.
• Actor Tate Donovan is 45.
• Basketball player Scottie Pippen is 43.
• Actor Jason Flemyng is 42.
• Actor Will Smith is 40.
• Actor Hal Sparks is 39.
• Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 39.
• Rock musician Mike Luce (Drowning Pool) is 37.
• Actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras is 35.
• Actor Chris Owen is 28.
• Rapper T. I. is 28.
• Actor Lee Norris is 27.
• Singer Diana Ortiz (Dream) is 23.
• Actress Emmy Clarke ("Monk") is 17.

Thought for Today:

"History is too serious to be left to historians."
Iain Macleod, British politician (1913-1970).

"Let's all be careful out there!"