Today in History
By the Associated Press
Today is Thursday, Oct. 24, the 297th day of 2019. There are 68 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 24, 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
On this date:
In 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.
In 1962, a naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect during the missile crisis.
In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who'd broken Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.
In 1997, in Arlington, Virginia, former NBC sportscaster Marv Albert was spared a jail sentence after a grudging courtroom apology to the woman he'd bitten during a sexual romp.
In 2005, civil rights icon Rosa Parks died in Detroit at age 92.
In 2008, singer-actress Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother were found slain in their Chicago home; the body of her 7-year-old nephew was found three days later. (Hudson's estranged brother-in-law was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.)
Ten years ago: Pakistani officials announced that their soldiers had captured Kotkai, the strategically located hometown of Pakistan's Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud (hah-kee-MUH'-lah meh-SOOD'), and one of his top deputies, after fierce fighting.
Five years ago: Jaylen Fryberg, a student at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington state, fatally shot four friends he had invited to lunch and wounded a fifth teen before killing himself. A coordinated militant assault on an army checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula killed 31 Egyptian troops. Actress Marcia Strassman, who'd played Gabe Kaplan's wife, Julie, on the 1970s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," died in Sherman Oaks, California, at age 66.
One year ago: Authorities said they had intercepted pipe bombs packed with shards of glass that had been sent to several prominent Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama; none of the bombs went off, and nobody was hurt. Saudi Arabia's crown prince told a business forum in his country that the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi (jah-MAHL' khahr-SHOHK'-jee) at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul was "heinous" and "painful to all Saudis;" some business leaders had pulled out of the conference after Turkish reports said a member of the prince's entourage was involved in the killing of Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi royal family.
