December 15
1791 - The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, took effect when Virginia ratified it.
1890 - Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribal members were killed by Native American police in Grand River, South Dakota.
1916 - The French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun during World War I.
1939 - The movie "Gone With the Wind" had its world premiere in Atlanta.
1944 - Band leader Glenn Miller, a major in the U.S. Army Air Force, disappeared in a plane crash over the English Channel while en route to Paris.
1961 - Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court for organizing the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.
1964 - Canada adopts its national flag, a red maple leaf on a white background.
1966 - Animated cartoon pioneer and movie producer Walt Disney died in Los Angeles.
1967 - The Silver Bridge between Gallipolis, Ohio and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people.
1978 - President Jimmy Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.
1979 - The board game Trivial Pursuit is invented by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott.
1989 - A demonstration that turned into a popular uprising in Romania began the downfall of Nicolae Ceausescu.
2000 - The long-troubled Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine was closed for good.
2001 - With a crash and a large dust cloud, a 50-foot tall section of steel — the last standing piece of the World Trade Center’s facade — was brought down in New York.
2011 - The flag used by U.S. forces in Iraq was lowered in a low-key Baghdad airport ceremony marking the end of a war that had left 4,500 Americans and 110,000 Iraqis dead and cost more than $800 billion.
2013 - Nelson Mandel was laid to rest in his childhood hometown, ending a 10-day mourning period for South Africa's first Black president.
2016 - A federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted Dylann Roof of slaughtering nine Black church members who had welcomed him to their Bible study.
2017 - Republicans revealed the details of their huge national tax rewrite; the 35 percent tax rate on corporations would fall to 21 percent, and the measure would repeal the requirement under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act that all Americans have health insurance or face a penalty. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the middle class would “get skewered” under the GOP tax measure, while the wealthy and corporations would “make out like bandits.”
2020 - The Food and Drug Administration cleared the first kit that consumers could buy without a prescription to test themselves for COVID-19 entirely at home.
2021 - Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating George Floyd’s civil rights, admitting for the first time that he held his knee across Floyd’s neck and kept it there even after Floyd became unresponsive, resulting in the Black man’s death.
2021 - A federal appeals court panel lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health care workers, instead blocking the requirement in only certain states and setting the stage for patchwork enforcement across the country.
Birthdays
23 - Erika Tham (actress)
23 - Aashika Bhatia (actress)
25 - Stefania Owen (actress)
25 - Maude Apatow (actress)
31 - Daniel Ezra (actor)
39 - Camilla Luddington (actress)
40 - George O. Gore II (actor)
40 - Charlie Cox (actor)
41 - Michelle Dockery (actress)
43 - Adam Brody (actor)
46 - Geoff Stults (actor)
50 - Stuart Townsend (actor)
52 - Michael Shanks (actor)
54 - Garrett Wang (actor)
56 - Teresa May (model)
57 - Molly Price (actress)
58 - Paul Kaye (actor)
59 - Helen Slater (actress)
72 - Melanie Chartoff (actress)
73 - Don Johnson (actor)
===================================
Today in Sports History - December 15
1917 - The NHL's first exhibition game was played four days before the start of the regular season. The Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers played a benefit game for victims of the Halifax Explosion, which had occurred 10 days earlier.
1935 - The Detroit Lions defeated the New York Giants 26-7 to win the NFL championship.
1946 - The Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 24-14 to win the NFL championship.
1962 - Nebraska defeats Miami (FL) 36-34 in the Gotham Bowl; NU finishes the season 9-2.
1966 - The New Orleans Saints became the 16th NFL franchise.
1973 - Tennessee defeats Temple 11-6 in an NCAA Division I men's basketball game.
1974 - The Miami Dolphins won at the Orange Bowl for the 31st consecutive time.
1980 - Dave Winfield becomes baseball's highest paid player, signing a 10-year contract with the New York Yankees worth $15 million.
1982 - Paul "Bear" Bryant announced his retirement as the head football coach at the University of Alabama.
1996 - John Elway (Denver Broncos) won his 126th game to set an NFL record.
1997 - The San Francisco 49ers retired Joe Montana's #16.
2002 - USC quarterback Carson Palmer wins the Heisman Trophy.
2008 - Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford wins the Heisman Trophy.
2011 - Barry Bonds is sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service for an obstruction of justice conviction stemming from a grand jury appearance in 2003.
2019 - The Raiders play their final football game in Oakland, California, conceding 17 unanswered second half points in a 20-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. (The franchise would move to Las Vegas in 2020.)
1791 - The Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, took effect when Virginia ratified it.
1890 - Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribal members were killed by Native American police in Grand River, South Dakota.
1916 - The French defeated the Germans in the Battle of Verdun during World War I.
1939 - The movie "Gone With the Wind" had its world premiere in Atlanta.
1944 - Band leader Glenn Miller, a major in the U.S. Army Air Force, disappeared in a plane crash over the English Channel while en route to Paris.
1961 - Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death by an Israeli court for organizing the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.
1964 - Canada adopts its national flag, a red maple leaf on a white background.
1966 - Animated cartoon pioneer and movie producer Walt Disney died in Los Angeles.
1967 - The Silver Bridge between Gallipolis, Ohio and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people.
1978 - President Jimmy Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.
1979 - The board game Trivial Pursuit is invented by Chris Haney and Scott Abbott.
1989 - A demonstration that turned into a popular uprising in Romania began the downfall of Nicolae Ceausescu.
2000 - The long-troubled Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine was closed for good.
2001 - With a crash and a large dust cloud, a 50-foot tall section of steel — the last standing piece of the World Trade Center’s facade — was brought down in New York.
2011 - The flag used by U.S. forces in Iraq was lowered in a low-key Baghdad airport ceremony marking the end of a war that had left 4,500 Americans and 110,000 Iraqis dead and cost more than $800 billion.
2013 - Nelson Mandel was laid to rest in his childhood hometown, ending a 10-day mourning period for South Africa's first Black president.
2016 - A federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted Dylann Roof of slaughtering nine Black church members who had welcomed him to their Bible study.
2017 - Republicans revealed the details of their huge national tax rewrite; the 35 percent tax rate on corporations would fall to 21 percent, and the measure would repeal the requirement under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act that all Americans have health insurance or face a penalty. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the middle class would “get skewered” under the GOP tax measure, while the wealthy and corporations would “make out like bandits.”
2020 - The Food and Drug Administration cleared the first kit that consumers could buy without a prescription to test themselves for COVID-19 entirely at home.
2021 - Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating George Floyd’s civil rights, admitting for the first time that he held his knee across Floyd’s neck and kept it there even after Floyd became unresponsive, resulting in the Black man’s death.
2021 - A federal appeals court panel lifted a nationwide ban against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for health care workers, instead blocking the requirement in only certain states and setting the stage for patchwork enforcement across the country.
Birthdays
23 - Erika Tham (actress)
23 - Aashika Bhatia (actress)
25 - Stefania Owen (actress)
25 - Maude Apatow (actress)
31 - Daniel Ezra (actor)
39 - Camilla Luddington (actress)
40 - George O. Gore II (actor)
40 - Charlie Cox (actor)
41 - Michelle Dockery (actress)
43 - Adam Brody (actor)
46 - Geoff Stults (actor)
50 - Stuart Townsend (actor)
52 - Michael Shanks (actor)
54 - Garrett Wang (actor)
56 - Teresa May (model)
57 - Molly Price (actress)
58 - Paul Kaye (actor)
59 - Helen Slater (actress)
72 - Melanie Chartoff (actress)
73 - Don Johnson (actor)
===================================
Today in Sports History - December 15
1917 - The NHL's first exhibition game was played four days before the start of the regular season. The Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers played a benefit game for victims of the Halifax Explosion, which had occurred 10 days earlier.
1935 - The Detroit Lions defeated the New York Giants 26-7 to win the NFL championship.
1946 - The Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 24-14 to win the NFL championship.
1962 - Nebraska defeats Miami (FL) 36-34 in the Gotham Bowl; NU finishes the season 9-2.
1966 - The New Orleans Saints became the 16th NFL franchise.
1973 - Tennessee defeats Temple 11-6 in an NCAA Division I men's basketball game.
1974 - The Miami Dolphins won at the Orange Bowl for the 31st consecutive time.
1980 - Dave Winfield becomes baseball's highest paid player, signing a 10-year contract with the New York Yankees worth $15 million.
1982 - Paul "Bear" Bryant announced his retirement as the head football coach at the University of Alabama.
1996 - John Elway (Denver Broncos) won his 126th game to set an NFL record.
1997 - The San Francisco 49ers retired Joe Montana's #16.
2002 - USC quarterback Carson Palmer wins the Heisman Trophy.
2008 - Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford wins the Heisman Trophy.
2011 - Barry Bonds is sentenced to 30 days of house arrest, two years of probation and 250 hours of community service for an obstruction of justice conviction stemming from a grand jury appearance in 2003.
2019 - The Raiders play their final football game in Oakland, California, conceding 17 unanswered second half points in a 20-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. (The franchise would move to Las Vegas in 2020.)
