Today is Saturday, July 13, the 195th day of the year 2024. There are 171 days left in the year.
Today’s story highlight:
On July 13, 1923, a 50-foot-high billboard of letters spelling out the word “HOLLYWOODLAND” was unveiled in the Hollywood Hills to promote a housing development (the last four letters were removed in 1949).
In 1985, the “Live Aid” charity rock concerts were held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, raising millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Also on this date:
In 1793, French politician, physician and journalist Jean-Paul Marat was assassinated by Charlotte Corday, who stabbed him to death in his bath.
In 1863, deadly riots against Civil War military conscription broke out in New York City. (The insurrection was suppressed three days later.)
In 1930, the first FIFA World Cup kicked off in Uruguay.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic presidential nomination on the first ballot at his party’s convention in Los Angeles.
In 1973, former presidential aide Alexander P. Butterfield revealed to Senate Watergate Committee staffers the existence of President Richard Nixon’s secret White House wiretapping system.
In 1985, the “Live Aid” charity rock concerts were held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, raising millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia.
In 1999, Angel Maturino Resendiz, suspected of being the “Railroad Killer,” traveled to El Paso, Texas.
In 2013, a Florida jury acquitted neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman of all charges in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager whose killing sparked a furious debate over racial profiling, self-defense and equal justice.
In 2018, a grand jury indictment requested by special counsel Robert Mueller alleged that the Russian government was behind a vast conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
In 2020, Washington’s NFL franchise dropped the “Redskins” name and logo under pressure from sponsors; the move followed decades of criticism that the name and logo were offensive to Native Americans. (The team was eventually renamed the Commanders.)
Today’s birthdays: Johnny Gilbert, game show host (TV: “Jeopardy!”) is 96. Wole Soyinka, writer and Nobel Prize winner, is 90. Patrick Stewart, actor, is 84. Harrison Ford, actor, is 82. Roger McGuinn, singer-guitarist (The Byrds), is 82. Erno Rubik, inventor of the Rubik’s Cube, is 80. Cheech Marin, actor-comedian, is 78. Daphne Maxwell Reid, actress, is 76. Tony Kornheiser, sportscaster and talk show host, is 76. Didi Conn, actor, is 73. Gil Birmingham, actor, is 71. Louise Mandrell, singer, is 70. Michael Spinks, former boxing champion, is 68. Cameron Crowe, actor-director, is 67. Tom Kenny, actor, is 62. Ken Jeong, actor, is 55. Deborah Cox, singer, is 50. Aya Cash, actress, is 42. Yadier, former St. Louis Cardinals wide receiver Molina is 42. Actor Colton Haynes is 36. Actor Steven R. McQueen is 36. Soul singer Leon Bridges is 35. Actress Hayley Erin (TV’s “General Hospital”) is 30.
