Today is Wednesday, May 25, the 145th day of 2005. There are 220 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.
On this date:
In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spain.
In 1844, the first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, appeared in the Baltimore Patriot.
In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted of a morals charge in London; he was sentenced to prison.
In 1935, Babe Ruth hit the 714th and final home run of his career for the Boston Braves, in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 1946, Transjordan (now Jordan) became a kingdom as it proclaimed its new monarch, King Abdullah Ibn Ul-Hussein.
In 1961, President Kennedy asked the nation to work toward putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
In 1963, the Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In 1968, the Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, was dedicated.
In 1979, 275 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed on takeoff from Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
In 1985, more than 11,000 people were killed as a hurricane and tidal wave devastated Bangladesh.
Ten years ago: NATO warplanes struck Bosnian Serb headquarters. (Serbs answered with swift defiance, storming U.N. weapons depots, attacking safe areas and taking peacekeepers as hostages.)
Five years ago: The government proposed a rating system telling consumers how prone vehicles are to rolling over. Iranian state radio announced that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani had resigned from the incoming parliament, depriving hard-liners of a leading figure in the power struggle between conservatives and reformists.
One year ago: The Boston Archdiocese said it would close 65 of 357 parishes, an offshoot of the clergy sex abuse scandal. Peace activist David Dellinger, one of the Chicago Seven defendants, died in Montpelier, Vt., at age 88. Publisher Roger W. Straus Jr. died in New York at age 87.
Today’s Birthdays: Lyricist Hal David is 84. Former opera singer Beverly Sills is 76. Former White House news secretary Ron Nessen is 71. Country singer-songwriter Tom T. Hall is 69. Actor Sir Ian McKellen is 66. Actress Dixie Carter is 66. Country singer Jessi Colter is 62. Actress-singer Leslie Uggams is 62. Movie director and Muppeteer Frank Oz is 61. Actress Karen Valentine is 58. Rock singer Klaus Meine (The Scorpions) is 57. Actress Patti D’Arbanville is 54. Actress Connie Sellecca is 50. Rock singer-musician Paul Weller is 47. Actor-comedian Mike Myers is 42. Actor Matt Borlenghi is 38. Rock musician Glen Drover is 36. Actress Anne Heche is 36. Actresses Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush (“Little House on the Prairie”) are 35. Actor Jamie Kennedy is 35. Actor Justin Henry is 34. Rapper Dat Nigga Daz is 32. Singer Lauryn Hill is 30. Rock musician Todd Whitener (Tantric) is 27. Actor Corbin Allred is 26. Actress-singer Lauren Frost is 20.
Thought for Today: “A historian is a prophet in reverse.” — Friedrich von Schlegel, German diplomat and writer (1772-1829).