Today in History

Today is Thursday, Oct. 27, the 300th day of 2022. There are 65 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded six others at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history; authorities said the suspect, Robert Bowers, raged against Jews during and after the rampage. (Bowers, whose trial is now set for April 2023, has pleaded not guilty; prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.)

On this date:

In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.

In 1904, the first rapid transit subway, the IRT, was inaugurated in New York City.

In 1914, author-poet Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales.

In 1941, the Chicago Daily Tribune dismissed the possibility of war with Japan, editorializing, "She cannot attack us. That is a military impossibility. Even our base at Hawaii is beyond the effective striking power of her fleet."

In 1954, U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was promoted to brigadier general, the first Black officer to achieve that rank in the USAF.

In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.

In 1971, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was renamed the Republic of Zaire (but it went back to its previous name in 1997).

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.

In 1995, a sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Paratrooper William J. Kreutzer was convicted in the shootings, and condemned to death; the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch cut through the western Caribbean, pummeling coastal Honduras and Belize; the storm caused several thousand deaths in Central America in the days that followed.

In 2004, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4, 3-0.

In 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was formally sworn as the Supreme Court's ninth justice, her oath administered in private by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Ten years ago: The eastern United States braced for high winds, torrential rains, power outages and even snow from Hurricane Sandy, which was headed north from the Caribbean toward a merger with two wintry weather systems.

Five years ago: Spain fired Catalonia's regional government and dissolved its parliament, after a Catalan declaration of independence that flouted the country's constitution. Golfer Tiger Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving, resolving charges from an arrest in which he was found passed out in his car with prescription drugs and marijuana in his system. The White House said federal officials had played no role in selecting a tiny Montana company from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown for a $300 million contract to help restore Puerto Rico's power grid.

One year ago: The Department of Homeland Security said U.S. immigration authorities would no longer make routine immigration arrests at schools, hospitals or a range of other "protected" areas. Investigators in New Mexico said there was "some complacency" in how weapons were handled on a movie set where Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed a cinematographer and wounded another person. The State Department said the United States had issued its first passport with an 'X' gender designation for a person who does not identify as male or female. Starbucks said it would raise its U.S. employees' pay and making other changes to improve working conditions in its stores; the company said all of its U.S. workers would earn at least $15 -- and up to $23 -- per hour by the following summer.

Today's Birthdays: Actor-comedian John Cleese is 83. Author Maxine Hong Kingston is 82. Country singer Lee Greenwood is 80. Rock musician Garry Tallent (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band) is 73. Author Fran Lebowitz is 72. Rock musician K.K. Downing is 71. TV personality Jayne Kennedy is 71. Actor-director Roberto Benigni is 70. Actor Peter Firth is 69. Actor Robert Picardo is 69. World Golf Hall of Famer Patty Sheehan is 66. Singer Simon Le Bon is 64. Country musician Jerry Dale McFadden (The Mavericks) is 58. Internet news editor Matt Drudge is 56. Rock musician Jason Finn (Presidents of the United States of America) is 55. Actor Sean Holland is 54. Actor Channon Roe is 53. Author Anthony Doerr is 49. Actor Sheeri Rappaport is 45. Actor David Walton is 44. Violinist Vanessa-Mae is 44. Actor-singer Kelly Osbourne is 38. Actor Christine Evangelista is 36. Actor Bryan Craig is 31. Actor Troy Gentile is 29.