By The Associated Press
Today is Friday, Oct. 29, the 303rd day of 2004. There are 63 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were financially wiped out as America's Great Depression began.
On this date:
*In 1682, the founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, landed at what is now Chester, Pennsylvania.
*In 1901, President McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was electrocuted.
*In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed.
*In 1947, former first lady Frances Cleveland Preston died in Baltimore at age 83.
*In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Israel launched an invasion of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
*In 1964, thieves made off with the Star of India and other gems from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. (The Star and most of the other gems were recovered; three men were convicted of stealing them.)
*In 1966, the National Organization for Women was founded.
*In 1967, the counter-culture musical "Hair" opened off-Broadway.
*In 1979, on the 50th anniversary of the great stock market crash, anti-nuclear protesters tried but failed to shut down the New York Stock Exchange.
*In 1998, Ohio Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery.
*Ten years ago: Francisco Martin Duran of Colorado Springs, Colo., fired more than two dozen shots from a semiautomatic rifle at the White House while standing on Pennsylvania Avenue; Duran was later convicted of trying to assassinate President Clinton and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
*Five years ago: A panel of European Union scientists ruled that British beef was safe for export, rejecting French scientific arguments to continue a ban because of fears of mad cow disease. Some 3,000 people attended a memorial service in Orlando, Fla., for golfer Payne Stewart, who was killed along with five other people in the crash of their Learjet.
*One year ago: International organizations continued their exodus from Iraq in the wake of car bombings in the capital and attacks against coalition troops. A powerful geomagnetic storm walloped the Earth, knocking out some airline communications but apparently causing no large power outages or other major problems. Opera star Franco Corelli died in Milan, Italy, at age 82.
Today's Birthdays: Anwar Rolle, King Erisson Bluegrass singer-musician Sonny Osborne (The Osborne Brothers) is 67. Country singer Lee Clayton is 62. Rock musician Denny Laine is 60. Singer Melba Moore is 59. Musician Peter Green is 58. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 57. Actress Kate Jackson is 56. Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is 53. Country musician Steve Kellough (Wild Horses) is 47. Singer Randy Jackson is 43. Rock musician Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 39. Actress Joely Fisher is 37. Rapper Paris is 37. Rock singer SA Martinez (311) is 34. Musician Toby Smith is 34. Actress Winona Ryder is 33. Actress Tracee Ellis Ross is 32. Actor Trevor Lissauer is 31. Actor Brendan Fehr is 27.
Thought for Today: "Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral, 48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy." _ Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974).
