Local

Dec. 21, 1979: Fifth graders at Hayward Elementary School honored Lorny Stotts with a skit portraying him as a king. Stotts decided to retire after 23 years at the school. He worked as a custodian, coach, counselor and friend.

Dec. 19, 1979: Roger Hanna, an 18-year veteran with the Albert Lea Police Department, retired from the force. Police Chief Clarence Ayers congratulated Hanna for his service during a retirement coffee.

Dec. 21, 1969: Albert Lea artist Lloyd Herfindahl was awarded the Leonardo Da Vinci Medal by the International Academy of Science, Literature and Arts.

 

National

2018: The House and Senate adjourned without a deal on spending, guaranteeing that a partial government shutdown would begin at midnight; President Donald Trump continued to push for $5 billion in border wall funding, a proposal Democrats staunchly opposed.

2014: The United States and Cuba restored diplomatic relations, sweeping away one of the last vestiges of the Cold War.

Dec. 22, 2010: President Barack Obama signed a law allowing gays for the first time in history to serve openly in America’s military, repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

2008: Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

2003: Design plans were unveiled for the signature skyscraper — a 1,776-foot glass tower — at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.

2001: The fires that had burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City for the previous three months were declared extinguished except for a few scattered hot spots.

Dec. 18, 2000: The Electoral College cast its ballots, with President-elect George W. Bush receiving the expected 271; Al Gore, however, received 266, one fewer than expected, because of a District of Columbia Democrat who’d left her ballot blank to protest the district’s lack of representation in Congress.

1999: The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded heterosexual couples.

Dec. 19, 1998: President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice (he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate).

Dec. 17, 1992: President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies. (After President Donald Trump demanded a new deal, the three countries signed a replacement agreement in 2018; it awaits approval by lawmakers.)

1975: Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was sentenced in Sacramento, California, to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford. (She was paroled in August 2009.)

1972: The United States began heavy bombing of North Vietnamese targets during the Vietnam War. (The bombardment ended 11 days later.)

1968:, Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon.

1945: U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton, 60, died in Heidelberg, Germany, 12 days after being seriously injured in a car accident.

1944: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s wartime evacuation of people of Japanese descent from the West Coast while at the same time ruling that “concededly loyal” Americans of Japanese ancestry could not continue to be detained.

1941: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1917: Congress passed the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” and sent it to the states for ratification.

1914: The U.S. government began requiring passport applicants to provide photographs of themselves.

1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conducted the first successful manned powered-airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.

1865: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was declared in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward.

1777: France recognized American independence.

1620: Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts.