This day in history

[November 13, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, Nov. 13, the 317th day of 2010. There are 48 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Nov. 13, 1974, Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., died in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter.

On this date:

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

In 1909, 259 men and boys were killed when fire erupted inside a coal mine in Cherry, Ill.

In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between lower Manhattan and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.

In 1940, the Walt Disney animated movie "Fantasia" had its world premiere in New York.

In 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public city and state buses.

In 1960, entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. married actress May Britt (the marriage lasted until 1968).

In 1969, speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew accused network television news departments of bias and distortion, and urged viewers to lodge complaints.

In 1971, the U.S. space probe Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars.

In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

In 1985, some 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died when a volcanic mudslide buried the city.

Ten years ago: Lawyers for George W. Bush failed to win a court order barring manual recounts of ballots in Florida. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced she would end the recounting at 5 p.m. Eastern time the next day -- prompting an immediate appeal by lawyers for Al Gore. Joe Mullen and Denis Savard were among those inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Five years ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Jerusalem, strongly rebuked Iran's leadership, saying "no civilized nation" can call for the annihilation of another -- a reference to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's (mahk-MOOD' ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhadhz) remark that Israel should be "wiped off the map." An Iraqi woman arrested by Jordanian authorities confessed on television to trying to blow herself up with her husband in one of the three Nov. 9 suicide attacks in Amman. American Indian historian and activist Vine Deloria Jr. died at age 72.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, in Tokyo at the start of a weeklong trip to Asia, said his decision about how many troops to send to Afghanistan would come soon and that he was bent on "getting this right." U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a decision to bring professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to trial at a lower Manhattan courthouse. Scientists said analysis of data from two NASA spacecraft that were intentionally crashed into the moon showed ample water near the lunar south pole.

Today's birthdays: Actress Madeleine Sherwood is 88. Journalist-author Peter Arnett is 76. Producer-director Garry Marshall is 76. Actor Jimmy Hawkins is 69. Country singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard is 64. Actor Joe Mantegna is 63. Actress Sheila Frazier is 62. Actress Frances Conroy is 57. Musician Andrew Ranken (The Pogues) is 57. Actress Tracy Scoggins is 57. Actor Chris Noth (nohth) is 56. Actress-comedian Whoopi Goldberg is 55. Actor Rex Linn ("CSI: Miami") is 54. Actress Caroline Goodall is 51. Actor Neil Flynn ("Scrubs") is 50. Former NFL quarterback Vinny Testaverde is 47. Rock musician Walter Kibby (Fishbone) is 46. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel is 43. Actor Steve Zahn is 43. Writer-activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is 41. Actress Aisha Hinds is 35. Rock musician Nikolai Fraiture is 32. NBA player Ron Artest is 31. Actress Monique Coleman is 30.

Thought for today: "If we like a man's dream, we call him a reformer; if we don't like his dream, we call him a crank." -- William Dean Howells, American author (1837-1920)

[Associated Press]

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