Local

Aug. 9, 1989: Carrie Boyer of Albert Lea captured the audience’s heart playing the lead role in the Minnesota Festival Theatre Production of “Annie.”

Aug. 10, 1979: A World War II B-25 bomber, built in 1943, was grounded at Albert Lea Airport with engine problems. The airplane was on its way to Fleming Air Field in South St. Paul to be restored.

Aug. 12, 1979: Howard Rosenberg, a staff writer for Jack Anderson’s “The Washington Merry-Go-Round” spent a week in Albert Lea interviewing local resident Russell Dann for a book. As a member of the 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Dann was exposed to two atomic bomb blasts in 1957. Dann is a major character in Rosenberg’s book “Atomic Soldiers.” Several movies and documentaries have been made about the 400,000 soldiers who were subjected to nuclear testing.

Aug. 10, 1959: The “I Am For Judy” button sale began allowing people to show their support for local Judy Olson. Olson won the Miss Minnesota pageant and was on her way to Atlantic City to compete in the Miss America contest. Mary Ann Mobley of Mississippi was crowned Miss America in 1959.

 

National

2018: Twin Northern California wildfires grew to become the largest wildfire in state history, burning more than 440 square miles north of San Francisco.

2014: President Barack Obama closed a three-day U.S.-Africa summit in Washington which brought together leaders from more than 50 African nations.

2013: U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on trial at Fort Hood, Texas, charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 attack. Hasan, who admitted carrying out the attack, was later convicted and sentenced to death.

2009: Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice by a Senate vote of 68-31.

1991: The World Wide Web made its public debut as a means of accessing webpages over the internet.

1978: Pope Paul VI died at Castel Gandolfo at age 80.

1961: Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the second man to orbit Earth as he flew aboard Vostok 2; his call sign, “Eagle,” prompted his famous declaration: “I am Eagle!”

1945: During World War II, the U.S. B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb code-named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths. Three days later, the U.S. exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki. The two events prompted the surrender of Imperial Japan.

1942: Queen Wilhemina of the Netherlands became the first reigning queen to address a joint meeting of Congress, telling lawmakers that despite Nazi occupation, her people’s motto remained, “No surrender.”

1926: Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel, arriving in Kingsdown, England, from France in 14 1/2 hours.

1914: Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia and Serbia declared war against Germany.

1911: Actress-comedian Lucille Ball was born in Jamestown, New York.

1890: Cy Young gained the first of his 511 major league victories as he pitched the Cleveland Spiders to a win over the Chicago Colts. The score is a matter of dispute, with some sources saying 6-1, and others saying 8-1.

1809: One of the leading literary figures of the Victorian era, poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England.