Today in History

Today is Friday, September 4, the 247th day of 2015. There are 118 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On September 4, 1781, Los Angeles was founded by Spanish settlers under the leadership of Governor Felipe de Neve.

On this date:

In 1886, a group of Apache Indians led by Geronimo (also known as Goyathlay, "One Who Yawns") surrendered to Gen. Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.

In 1888, George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film box camera, and registered his trademark: "Kodak."

In 1917, the American Expeditionary Forces in France suffered their first fatalities during World War I when a German plane attacked a British-run base hospital.

In 1948, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated after nearly six decades of rule for health reasons.

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation from the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco in the first live, coast-to-coast television broadcast.

In 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus used Arkansas National Guardsmen to prevent nine black students from entering all-white Central High School in Little Rock. Ford Motor Co. began selling its ill-fated Edsel.

In 1963, a Swissair Caravelle III carrying 80 people crashed shortly after takeoff from Zurich, killing all on board.

In 1971, an Alaska Airlines jet crashed near Juneau, killing all 111 people on board.

In 1972, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz won a seventh gold medal at the Munich Olympics, in the 400-meter medley relay.

In 1974, the United States established diplomatic relations with East Germany.

In 1984, Canada's Progressive Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, won a landslide victory in general elections over the Liberal Party of Prime Minister John N. Turner and the New Democrats headed by Ed Broadbent.

In 1995, attorney William Kunstler, who spoke out for the politically unpopular in a controversial career, died in New York at age 76.

Ten years ago: Six days after Hurricane Katrina left a devastated New Orleans in chaos, police stormed the Danziger Bridge, shooting and killing two unarmed people and wounding four others. (Five New Orleans police officers were found guilty of civil rights violations in connection with the shootings; however, a federal judge threw out those convictions in September 2013 and ordered a new trial, concluding the case had been tainted by "grotesque prosecutorial misconduct.")

Five years ago: Protesters hurled shoes and eggs at Tony Blair in Dublin, Ireland, as he held the first public signing of his memoir as British prime minister amid high security. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Paul Conrad, 86, died in Rancho Palos Verdes.

One year ago: Joan Rivers, the raucous, acid-tongued comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows, died at a New York hospital at age 81, a week after going into cardiac arrest in a doctor's office following a routine medical procedure. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron pressed fellow NATO allies at the scene of a summit in Wales to confront the "brutal and poisonous" Islamic State militant group wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria. Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, were convicted of taking bribes to promote a dietary supplement in a corruption case that derailed the career of the onetime rising Republican star.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Mitzi Gaynor is 84. Actor Kenneth Kimmins is 74. Singer Merald "Bubba" Knight (Gladys Knight & The Pips) is 73. World Golf Hall of Famer Raymond Floyd is 73. Actress Jennifer Salt is 71. World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson is 66. Rhythm-and-blues musician Ronald LaPread is 65. Actress Judith Ivey is 64. Rock musician Martin Chambers (The Pretenders) is 64. Actress Khandi Alexander is 58. Actor-comedian Damon Wayans is 55. Rock musician Kim Thayil is 55. Actor Richard Speight Jr. is 46. Actor Noah Taylor is 46. Actress Ione Skye is 45. Actor-singer James Monroe Iglehart is 41. Pop-rock singer-DJ-musician-producer Mark Ronson is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Richard Wingo (Jagged Edge) is 40. Rock musician Ian Grushka (New Found Glory) is 38. Actor Wes Bentley is 37. Actor Max Greenfield is 36. Singer Dan Miller (O Town) is 35. Singer Beyonce (bee-AHN'-say) Knowles is 34. Country singer-musician Tom Gossin (Gloriana) is 34. Actress-comedian Whitney Cummings is 33. Actor-comedian Kyle Mooney (TV: "Saturday Night Live") is 31. Folk-rock musician Neyla Pekarek (The Lumineers) is 29. Actor Carter Jenkins is 24. Actor Trevor Gagnon is 20.

Thought for Today: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, that's why we call it the present." -- Joan Rivers (1933-2014).

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