Today in History

Today is Saturday, September 6, the 249th day of 2014. There are 116 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On September 6, 1944, during World War II, the British government relaxed blackout restrictions and suspended compulsory training for the Home Guard.

On this date:

In 1861, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah, Kentucky, during the Civil War.

In 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. (McKinley died eight days later; Czolgosz was executed on October 29.)

In 1916, the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders.

In 1939, the Union of South Africa declared war on Germany.

In 1943, 79 people were killed when a New York-bound Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed and crashed in Philadelphia.

In 1954, groundbreaking took place for the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in western Pennsylvania.

In 1966, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by an apparently deranged page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.

In 1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three U.S.-bound jetliners. (Two were later blown up on the ground in Jordan, along with a London-bound plane hijacked on September 9; the fourth plane was destroyed on the ground in Egypt. No hostages were harmed.)

In 1984, country music's "Texas Troubador," Ernest Tubb, died in Nashville at age 70.

In 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Russian lawmakers upheld a decision by residents of Leningrad to restore the city's pre-revolutionary name, St. Petersburg.

In 1997, a public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

In 2002, meeting outside Washington D.C. for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of September 11.

Ten years ago: Former President Bill Clinton underwent successful heart bypass surgery during a four-hour procedure at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia. In Iraq, seven members of the First Marine Division from Camp Pendleton, California, and three U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers were killed by a car bomb near Fallujah. Former hurricane Frances pounded the Florida Panhandle as a tropical storm.

Five years ago: The White House announced the resignation of President Barack Obama's environmental adviser Van Jones, who'd become embroiled in a controversy over past inflammatory statements; Jones cited what he called a "vicious smear campaign" against him.

One year ago: Debra Milke (MIHL'-kee), who'd spent more than two decades on Arizona's death row, was released on bond after a judge ruled there was no direct evidence linking her to the death of her 4-year-old son Christopher, other than a purported confession to a detective whose credibility has been called into question. (Milke faces a retrial in 2015.) NASA's newest robotic lunar explorer, LADEE, rocketed into space in an unprecedented moonshot from Virginia that dazzled sky watchers along the East Coast.

Today's Birthdays: Comedian JoAnne Worley is 79. Country singer David Allan Coe is 75. Rock singer-musician Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 71. Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 70. Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 67. Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 62. Actor James Martin Kelly (TV: "Mob City"; Film: "Magic Mike") is 60. Country musician Joe Smyth (Sawyer Brown) is 57. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 56. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow is 56. Rock musician Perry Bamonte is 54. Actor Steven Eckholdt is 53. Rock musician Scott Travis (Judas Priest) is 53. Pop musician Pal Waaktaar (a-ha) is 53. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 52. Rock musician Kevin Miller is 52. ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 52. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 51. Actress Betsy Russell is 51. Actress Rosie Perez is 50. Rhythm and blues singer Macy Gray is 47. Singer CeCe Peniston is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Darryl Anthony (Az Yet) is 45. Actress Daniele Gaither is 44. Rock singer Dolores O'Riordan (The Cranberries) is 43. Actor Dylan Bruno is 42. Actor Idris Elba is 42. Actress Justina Machado is 42. Actress Anika Noni Rose is 42. Rock singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 40. Actor Justin Whalin is 40. Actress Naomie Harris is 38. Rapper Noreaga is 37. Actress Natalia Cigliuti is 36. Rapper Foxy Brown is 36. Actress Lauren Lapkus (TV: "Orange is the New Black") is 29. Rock singer Max George (The Wanted) is 26.

Thought for Today: "The happiness of most people we know is not ruined by great catastrophes or fatal errors, but by the repetition of slowly destructive little things." -- Ernest Dimnet, French priest, lecturer and author (1866-1954).

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.