California Senator Dianne Feinstein and Sierra Club boosters celebrate the victory of legislation protecting the California desert at a campaign stop at the club's Los Angeles office, Oct. 31, 1994. Earlier Monday President Clinton in Washington had signed into law a bill that designates 6.6 million acres of California desert as federal parkland and wilderness area, the largest such area in the United States outside Alaska. Feinstein and fellow California Senator Barbara Boxer were instrumental in the bill's passage. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Today is Sunday, Oct. 25, the 299th day of 2020. There are 67 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 25, 1910, “America the Beautiful,” with words by Katharine Lee Bates and music by Samuel A. Ward, was first published.

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A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

On this date

In 1760, Britain’s King George III succeeded his late grandfather, George II.

In 1854, the “Charge of the Light Brigade” took place during the Crimean War as an English brigade of more than 600 men charged the Russian army, suffering heavy losses.

In 1881, artist Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain.

In 1957, mob boss Albert Anastasia of “Murder Inc.” notoriety was shot to death by masked gunmen in a barber shop inside the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York.

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor touches a tissue to her eye during an appearance on the Donahue Show on Oct. 27, 1989 in New York. Gabor recounted her arrest on television and recent conviction on an assault charge for slapping a Beverly Hills, Calif., police officer. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In 1962, American author John Steinbeck was named winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.

In 1971, the U.N. General Assembly voted to admit mainland China and expel Taiwan.

In 1983, a U.S.-led force invaded Grenada (greh-NAY’-duh) at the order of President Ronald Reagan, who said the action was needed to protect U.S. citizens there.

In 1986, in Game 6 of the World Series, the New York Mets rallied for three runs with two outs in the 10th inning, defeating the Boston Red Sox 6-5 and forcing a seventh game; the tie-breaking run scored on Boston first baseman Bill Buckner’s error on Mookie Wilson’s slow grounder. (The Mets went on to win the Series.)

In 1994, Susan Smith of Union, South Carolina, claimed that a Black carjacker had driven off with her two young sons (Smith later confessed to drowning the children in John D. Long Lake, and was convicted of murder). Three defendants were convicted in South Africa of murdering American exchange student Amy Biehl. (In 1998, all three were granted amnesty by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.)

Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner is a picture of dejection as he leaves the field after committing an error on a ball hit by New York Mets Mookie Wilson which allowed the winning run to score in the sixth game of the World Series, Saturday night, Oct. 25, 1986 in New York. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)

In 1999, golfer Payne Stewart and five others were killed when their Learjet flew uncontrolled for four hours before crashing in South Dakota; Stewart was 42.

In 2002, U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., was killed in a plane crash in northern Minnesota along with his wife, daughter and five others, a week and a-half before the election. Actor Richard Harris died in London at age 72.

In 2014, the World Health Organization said more than 10,000 people had been infected with Ebola and that nearly half of them had died as the outbreak continued to spread. Jack Bruce, 71, the bassist and lead vocalist of the 1960s power trio Cream, died in London.

Ten years ago: Afghan President Hamid Karzai (HAH’-mihd KAHR’-zeye) acknowledged receiving millions of dollars in cash from Iran, adding that Washington was giving him “bags of money” as well because his office lacked funds. In Indonesia, an earthquake triggered a tsunami off western Sumatra that killed hundreds and destroyed homes, mosques and other buildings.

Five years ago: Declaring that “today is a time of mercy,” Pope Francis closed a historic meeting of bishops that approved an important new direction in welcoming divorced and civilly remarried Catholics into the church. Six people were killed when a Canadian whale-watching boat capsized off Vancouver Island. Flip Saunders, 60, who rose from the backwaters of basketball’s minor leagues to become one of the most powerful men in the NBA as coach, team president and part owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, died in Minneapolis.

One year ago: A 40-day strike that crippled General Motors’ U.S. production came to an end as workers approved a new contract. Maria Butina, a Russian woman convicted in the United States of being a Russian agent, was deported to her home country after serving a prison sentence; the gun-rights activist had sought to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups and promote Russia’s agenda around the time Donald Trump rose to power. The Pentagon awarded Microsoft a $10 billion cloud computing contract, snubbing early front-runner Amazon, whose competitive bid had drawn criticisms from President Donald Trump. (The start of the work was delayed as Amazon challenged the bidding process as flawed.) The Houston Astros won Game 3 of the World Series, the first to be played in Washington, D.C. in 86 years. Actor Felicity Huffman was released from a federal prison in California two days before the end of her two-week sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal.

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OCTOBER 26

On October 26th, 1774, the First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.

In 1881, the “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” took place in Tombstone, Arizona, as Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and “Doc” Holliday confronted Ike Clanton’s gang. Three members of Clanton’s gang were killed; Earp’s brothers and Holliday were wounded.

In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.

In 1975, Anwar Sadat became the first Egyptian president to pay an official visit to the United States.

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OCTOBER 27

On Oct. 27, 1904, the first rapid transit subway, the IRT, was inaugurated in New York City.

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

In 1858, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was born in New York City.

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

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OCTOBER 28

On Oct. 28, 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba; in return, the U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from U.S. installations in Turkey.

In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first New York store at Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan.

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.

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OCTOBER 29

On Oct. 29, 1929, “Black Tuesday” descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America’s “Great Depression” began.

In 1901, President William McKinley’s assassin, Leon Czolgosz (CHAWL’-gahsh), was electrocuted.

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he’d blazed for America’s astronauts 36 years earlier.

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OCTOBER 30

On Oct. 30, 2005, the body of Rosa Parks arrived at the U.S. Capitol, where the civil rights icon became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda; President George W. Bush and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by her casket.

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OCTOBER 31

On Oct. 31, 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927.

In 1860, Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA, was born in Savannah, Ga.

In 1926, magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix.

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