JULY 19TH

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Today is Saturday, July 19, the 201st day of 2008. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On July 19, 1848, a pioneer women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

On this date:

• In 1553, 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as Queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days. King Henry VIII's daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen.
• In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war began.
• In 1943, allied air forces raided Rome during World War II.
• In 1944, the Democratic National Convention convened in Chicago with the renomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered a foregone certainty.
• In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.
• In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated.
• In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza had fled the country.
• In 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro, D-N.Y., won the Democratic nomination for vice president by acclamation at the party's convention in San Francisco.
• In 1989, 111 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived.
• In 1993, President Clinton announced a policy allowing homosexuals to serve in the military under a compromise dubbed "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue."

Ten years ago:

• Seeking to break a 16-month deadlock, Israel and the Palestinians held their first high-level talks in months.
• Hundreds of Serb police battled secessionist guerrillas for control of the central Kosovo town of Orahovac.

Five years ago:

• A chartered aircraft carrying three families to a game reserve plowed into Mount Kenya, killing all 12 American tourists and the two South African pilots on board.

One year ago:

• A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame, who was demanding money from Bush administration officials she blamed for leaking her agency identity.
• Taliban gunmen abducted 23 South Koreans who worked at an aid organization in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Two hostages were fatally shot; the rest were later freed.)

Today's Birthdays:

• Former Sen. George McGovern is 86.
• Actor Pat Hingle is 84.
• Actress Helen Gallagher is 82.
• Country singer Sue Thompson is 82.
• Country singer George Hamilton IV is 71.
• Actor Dennis Cole is 68.
• Singer Vikki Carr is 67.
• Country singer-musician Commander Cody is 64.
• Actor George Dzundza is 63.
• Rock singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 62.
• Rock musician Brian May is 61.
• Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 61.
• Actress Beverly Archer is 60.
• Movie director Abel Ferrara is 57.
• Actor Peter Barton is 52.
• Rock musician Kevin Haskins (Love and Rockets; Bauhaus) is 48.
• Movie director Atom Egoyan is 48.
• Actor Campbell Scott is 47.
• Actor Anthony Edwards is 46.
• Country singer Kelly Shiver is 45.
• Actress Clea Lewis is 43.
• Country musician Jeremy Patterson (Flynnville Train) is 38.
• Classical singer Urs Buhler (Il Divo) is 37.
• Actor Andrew Kavovit is 37.
• Rock musician Jason McGerr (Death Cab for Cutie) is 34.
• Actress Rachel Miner is 28.
• Actor Jared Padalecki is 26.
• Actor Steven Anthony Lawrence is 18.

Thought for Today:

"I always turn to the sports page first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page nothing but man's failure."
Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States (1891-1974).

"Let's all be careful out there!"