Today in History

Today is Friday, Sept. 28, the 271st day of 2018. There are 94 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 28, 1787, the Congress of the Confederation voted to send the just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.

On this date:

In 1542, Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at present-day San Diego.

In 1781, American forces in the Revolutionary War, backed by a French fleet, began their successful siege of Yorktown, Va.

In 1892, the first nighttime football game took place in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, as teams from Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary played under electric lights to a scoreless tie.

In 1920, eight members of the Chicago White Sox were indicted for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. (All were acquitted at trial, but all eight were banned from the game for life.)

In 1928, Scottish medical researcher Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first effective antibiotic.

In 1939, during World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a treaty calling for the partitioning of Poland, which the two countries had invaded.

In 1964, comedian Harpo Marx, 75, died in Los Angeles.

In 1976, Muhammad Ali kept his world heavyweight boxing championship with a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton at New York's Yankee Stadium.

In 1989, deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.

In 1991, jazz great Miles Davis died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 65.

In 1993, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton went to Capitol Hill to begin selling the administration's health care plan to Congress.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord at the White House ending Israel's military occupation of West Bank cities and laying the foundation for a Palestinian state.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush urged Congress to pass a $700 billion rescue plan for beleaguered financial companies, saying in a written statement, "Without this rescue plan, the costs to the American economy could be disastrous." Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 7 returned to Earth after completing their country's first spacewalk mission. Austrian 16-year-olds voted for the first time in parliamentary elections under a law adopted in 2007.

Five years ago: Locked in a deepening struggle with President Barack Obama, House Republicans demanded a one-year delay in major parts of the nation's new health care law and permanent repeal of a tax on medical devices as the price for preventing a partial government shutdown threatened for Oct. 1. (Senate Democrats rejected the plan and the White House said that "any member of the Republican Party who votes for this bill is voting for a shutdown.") The Global Citizen Festival, highlighting world poverty, took place in New York's Central Park.

One year ago: The Trump administration said its relief efforts in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria were succeeding, though people on the island said help was scarce and disorganized. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise returned to the House chamber for the first time since he was wounded three months earlier by a gunman who opened fire at a Republican baseball practice.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Brigitte Bardot is 84. Actor Joel Higgins is 75. Singer Helen Shapiro is 72. Movie writer-director-actor John Sayles is 68. Rock musician George Lynch is 64. Zydeco singer-musician C.J. Chenier is 61. Actor Steve Hytner is 59. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 54. Country singer Matt King is 52. Actress Mira Sorvino is 51. TV personality/singer Moon Zappa is 51. Actress-model Carre Otis is 50. Actress Naomi Watts is 50. Country singer Karen Fairchild (Little Big Town) is 49. Country musician Chuck Crawford is 45. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 43. Rapper Young Jeezy is 41. World Golf Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak is 41. Actor Peter Cambor is 40. Writer-producer-director-actor Bam Margera is 39. Actress Melissa Claire Egan is 37. Actress Jerrika Hinton is 37. Neo-soul musician Luke Mossman (Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats ) is 37. Pop-rock singer St. Vincent is 36. Rock musician Daniel Platzman (Imagine Dragons) is 32. Actress Hilary Duff is 31. Actor Keir Gilchrist is 26.

Thought for Today: "To fight oppression, and to work as best we can for a sane organization of society, we do not have to abandon the state of mind of freedom. If we do that we are letting the same thuggery in by the back door that we are fighting off in front of the house." -- John Dos Passos, American author (born 1896, died this date in 1970).