Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 3, the 337th day of 2019. There are 28 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 3, 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

On this date:

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.

In 1960, the Lerner and Loewe musical "Camelot," starring Julie Andrews as Guenevere, Richard Burton as King Arthur and Robert Goulet as Lancelot, opened on Broadway.

In 1964, police arrested some 800 students at the University of California at Berkeley, one day after the students stormed the administration building and staged a massive sit-in.

In 1967, a surgical team in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the donor organ, which came from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old bank clerk who had died in a traffic accident.

In 1980, Bernadine Dohrn, a former leader of the radical Weather Underground, surrendered to authorities in Chicago after more than a decade as a fugitive.

In 1984, thousands of people died after a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

In 1991, radicals in Lebanon released American hostage Alann Steen, who'd been held captive nearly five years.

In 1992, the first telephone text message was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth, who transmitted the greeting "Merry Christmas" from his work computer in Newbury, Berkshire, to Vodafone executive Richard Jarvis' mobile phone. The Greek tanker Aegean Sea spilled more than 21 million gallons of crude oil when it ran aground off northwestern Spain.

In 1999, Tori Murden of the United States became the first woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone as she arrived at the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, 81 days after leaving the Canary Islands near the coast of Africa.

In 2001, in the wake of bombings that had killed 26 Israelis, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a war on terror. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge asked Americans to return to a high state of alert, citing threats of more terrorist attacks.

In 2002, thousands of personnel files released under a court order showed that the Archdiocese of Boston went to great lengths to hide priests accused of abuse, including clergy who'd allegedly snorted cocaine and had sex with girls aspiring to be nuns.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama hosted a White House-sponsored jobs forum, where he said he'd heard many "exciting ideas" and proposals and expressed hope some could be put into action quickly. Pope Benedict XVI and visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to upgrade Vatican-Kremlin ties to full diplomatic relations. Comcast and GE announced joint venture plans, with Comcast owning a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal. British actor Richard Todd died in Little Humby, Lincolnshire, England, at age 90.

Five years ago: A Staten Island, New York, grand jury declined to indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the July 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man stopped on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Herman Badillo, a Bronx politician who was the first person born in Puerto Rico to become a U.S. congressman, died at age 85.

One year ago: President Donald Trump made it clear that he was closely watching those who turned on him in the Russia investigation; he tweeted that his former lawyer, who cut a deal with prosecutors, should go straight to prison, but Trump praised a key witness for having the "guts" not to testify against him. A casket containing the body of former President George H.W. Bush was flown from Texas to Washington to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. At the U.N.'s annual climate summit in Poland, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a dramatic appeal to world leaders to take global warming seriously, calling it "the most important issue we face." After a two-year chase, a NASA spacecraft arrived at the ancient asteroid Bennu, some 76 million miles from Earth; the goal is to grab gravel samples in 2020 for return to Earth in 2023.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director Jean-Luc Godard is 89. Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 88. Actor Nicolas Coster is 86. Actress Mary Alice is 78. Rock singer Ozzy Osbourne is 71. Rock singer Mickey Thomas is 70. Country musician Paul Gregg (Restless Heart) is 65. Actor Steven Culp is 64. Actress Daryl Hannah is 59. Actress Julianne Moore is 59. Olympic gold medal figure skater Katarina Witt is 54. Actor Brendan Fraser is 51. Singer Montell Jordan is 51. Actor Royale Watkins is 50. Actor Bruno Campos is 46. Actress Holly Marie Combs is 46. Actress Liza Lapira is 44. Actress Lauren Roman is 44. Pop-rock singer Daniel Bedingfield is 40. Actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish is 40. Actress Anna Chlumsky is 39. Actress Jenna Dewan is 39. Actor Brian Bonsall is 38. Actress Dascha Polanco is 37. Pop/rock singer-songwriter Andy Grammer is 36. Americana musician Michael Calabrese (Lake Street Dive) is 35. Actress Amanda Seyfried is 34. Actor Michael Angarano is 32. Actor Jake T. Austin is 25.

Thought for Today: "Facing it, always facing it, that's the way to get through. Face it." -- Joseph Conrad, Polish-born English novelist (born this date in 1857, died 1924).

Copyright 2019, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.