Today is Thursday, Nov. 18, the 322nd day of 2021. There are 43 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 18, 1991, Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland, the American dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut.

On this date:

In 1883, the United States and Canada adopted a system of Standard Time zones.

In 1963, the Bell System introduced the first commercial touch-tone telephone system in Carnegie and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

In 1966, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays outside of Lent.

In 1976, Spain’s parliament approved a bill to establish a democracy after 37 years of dictatorship.

In 1978, U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., and four others were killed in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide by more than 900 cult members.

In 1987, the congressional Iran-Contra committees issued their final report, saying President Ronald Reagan bore “ultimate responsibility” for wrongdoing by his aides. A fire at London King’s Cross railway station claimed 31 lives.

In 1999, 12 people were killed when a bonfire under construction at Texas A-and-M University collapsed. A jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted Shawn Allen Berry of murder for his role in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr., but spared him the death penalty.

In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled 4-to-3 that the state constitution guaranteed gay couples the right to marry.

In 2004, Former President Bill Clinton’s library opened in Little Rock, Arkansas. In attendance at the event were President George W. Bush, former President George H.W. Bush and former President Jimmy Carter. Former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry, convicted of killing four black girls in the racially motivated bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, church in 1963, died in prison at age 74.

In 2005, eight months after Robert Blake was acquitted at a criminal trial of murdering his wife, a civil jury decided the actor was behind the slaying and ordered him to pay Bonny Lee Bakley’s children $30 million.

In 2009, two days before turning 92, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., set a record for longest-serving lawmaker in congressional history at 56 years, 320 days. (That record was broken in 2013 by U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.)

In 2013, Toronto’s city council voted to strip scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford of many of his powers following a heated debate in which he knocked over a city councilor.

Ten years ago: In an incident that prompted national outrage, campus police at the University of California, Davis used pepper spray on nonviolent Occupy protesters. (The school later agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the demonstrators.) Self-help author James Arthur Ray was sentenced to two years in prison for leading an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony that was supposed to offer spiritual enlightenment but instead resulted in three deaths.

Five years ago: President-elect Donald Trump signaled a sharp policy shift to the right by picking Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA and Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.

One year ago: President Donald Trump filed for a recount of Wisconsin’s two largest Democratic counties, paying the required $3 million cost and alleging that they were the sites of the “worst irregularities” although no evidence of illegal activity had been presented. (The recounts resulted in a slightly larger lead for Democrat Joe Biden.) House Democrats nominated Nancy Pelosi to be the speaker who would guide them in the new Congress with Joe Biden in the White House. Pfizer said new test results showed its coronavirus vaccine was safe and 95% effective, and that it protected older people most at risk of dying. The Federal Aviation Administration cleared Boeing’s 737 Max for flight; regulators around the world had grounded the Max in March 2019 after a pair of deadly crashes. The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Georgia freshman guard Anthony Edwards with the No. 1 pick in the delayed NBA draft.

  • Some of the 24 Sioux chieftains, in full tribal regalia, who dropped into the New York City Hall, Nov. 18, 1932 to pay their respects to Mayor Joseph V. McKee. They had come east a month ago from the Pine Ridge Indian Agency in South Dakota to visit chief two moon meredes at shi home in Waterbury, Conn., among them were six who took part in the battle big horn, 57 years ago, in which General Custer and a squadron of the 7th U.S. cavalry werr wiped out. (AP Photo)
  • President Franklin D. Roosevelt waves his hat as he drove through the city of Savannah, Ga., Nov. 18, 1933, on his way to the stadium to address the large bicentennial crowd. From left to right: Pres. Roosevelt, Mayor Thomas Gamble of Savannah; Sara Delano Roosevelt, the president’s mother; and Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge. Man in front seat is unidentified. (AP Photo)
  • Workmen assist the derrick operator, chief engineer Joseph Strauss, in joining the center of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Ca., Nov. 18, 1936. The bridge has a main span of 4,200 feet, 1,280 meters, making it the world’s longest suspension structure. (AP Photo)
  • German soldiers are being decorated with the Iron Cross for bravery on the Western Front lines on Nov. 18, 1939. (AP Photo)
  • German Chancellor Adolf Hitler acknowledging the audience following a speech in Berlin, Germany on Nov. 18, 1941. (AP Photo)
  • Due to this combination splint and stretcher, “Admiral Wags”, 13-year-old cocker spaniel, who saw service in the Pacific with his master Vice Admiral F.C. Sherman, is almost fully recovered from injuries suffered when he fell from the flight to the hanger deck of the enterprise on October 26. He is being treated by Capt. Arthur F. North Jr., army veterinarian, at Governors Island, N.Y., Nov. 18, 1945. (AP Photo)
  • Workers of the Black Diamond Mine at Monongahela, Penn., wait for a trolley after walking off their jobs, in premature observance of John L. Lewis contract “termination,” Nov. 18, 1946. (AP Photo)
  • A crowd estimated by police at 25,000, attends a ceremony at City Hall Plaza welcoming the Friendship Train to New York, Nov 18, 1947. The train, after a nation-wide tour collecting foodstuffs for Europeans, will be shipped to Europe after the ceremonies. (AP Photo)
  • The colored headboard is placed in position on the front of the locomotive No. 861 “Lord Anson”, which will head the two Pullman cars “Rosemary” and “Rosamund” and three other vehicles forming the Royal Special train in which Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, R.N., will travel from Waterloo Station, London, to Winchester, Hampshire, for their honeymoon on November 20, 1947. This picture was made at the Southern Railway Nine Elms Loco Depot., in London, United Kingdom on Nov. 18, 1947. (AP Photo)
  • Young guests surround Brooklyn Dodgers’ second baseman Jackie Robinson and his son Jackie Jr. as they light candles on his birthday cake for his third birthday party in St. Albans in the Queens section of New York, Nov. 18, 1949. Jackie Sr. was also named Most Valuable Player in the National League today. At left is Rachel Robinson, the baseball star’s wife, and at right is Sarah Satlow, his secretary. Other children are unidentified. (AP Photo/John Rooney)
  • This is a photo of the Great Wall of China taken on Nov. 18, 1954. (AP Photo)
  • French actors Louis de Funes and Yves Montand are on the set of “La Folie Des Grandeurs” (“Delusions of Grandeur”) currently being filmed at the Saint Maurice Studios near Paris, Nov. 18, 1968. (AP Photo/Eustache Cardenas)
  • Muhammad Ali, exercises on a snow-covered road in Stateline, Nev., Nov. 18, 1972, as he prepares for his bout with light heavyweight champ bob Foster on Nov. 21. (AP Photo/Walter Zeboski)
  • A display of stereo and television sets are shown in an electronics store in Tokyo’s Akihabara district in Japan, Nov. 18, 1975. (AP Photo)
  • Seven members of the Peoples Temple in Georgetown, Guyana walk toward airplane that will return them to U.S., Nov. 29, 1978. Two members of the party, Hyacinth Thrash, 84, and Grover Davis, 79, were survivors of the Jonestown mass suicide. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)
  • Members of the gay and lesbian community and their supporters stand and applaud during a rally at the Old South Meeting House in Boston, Tuesday evening, Nov. 18, 2003, after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
  • King Farouk driving to the opening of Parliament at Cairo, Egypt, in his state coach, on Nov. 18, 1937. (AP Photo)
  • These are some of the German airmen engaged in the Reich’s sky warfare with Britain on Nov. 18, 1940. Sergeant Eichloff, right, winner of the knight’s cross of the iron cross or successful action during attacks on England, awaits commands in his plane. (AP Photo)
  • West Berliners were offered at look at whirling skirts and stamping boots when the well-known Soviet Pyatnitzki troupe showed Russian peasant dances at a guest performance in the British Sector, Thursday, Nov. 18, 1954, Berlin, Germany. A group of performers dressed up as Russian peasants. (AP Photo/Heinrich Sanden Jr.)
  • Robert Clark of Baltimore, a spectator during a desegregation demonstration in ?Little Italy,? is placed by police in a paddy wagon in Baltimore, Nov. 18, 1961. Officers said Clark stepped out and hit William Rhoades, also white. Clark was held pending filing of charges. (AP Photo/William A. Smith)
  • Clutching a bouquet of flowers, Marlene Dietrich, extends her hand to someone waiting to greet her upon arrival at London Airport, Nov. 18, 1964 from Paris. (AP Photo)
  • Remember that old saw which parents used on their adolescent sons who wanted to shave the fuzz off their cheeks? “Put some cream on it and let the cat lick it off” is the way it went. That’s what the father of actor Jon Provost, now 15, shown in Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 1965, told him when the boy kept pestering for a razor. Ever one to accept parental advice, Jon tried it with this result. John, who’s been Lassie’s television co-star for years, still wants a razor. (AP Photo/George Brich)
  • Phil Jackson (18) of the New York Knicks appears to be waiting for the ball to come back as he dribbles around Luke Jackson (54) of the 76ers on his way to the basket and two points during the first half of their game at Philadelphia, Nov. 18, 1970. 76ers won, 113-106. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)
  • Northwestern University band forms likeness of famed cartoon character Mickey Mouse during halftime of game against Michigan State at Evanston, Illinois on Nov. 18, 1978. Saturday is Mickey’s 50th birthday. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell)
  • John and Reve Walsh of Hollywood, Fla., along with a photo of their son Adam, who was taken from a store in Hollywood several months ago, appear before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Missing Children on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 18, 1981. The boy’s severed head, the only part of his body discovered, was found in a canal near Vero Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/John Duricka)
  • Angelo Buono, convicted in nine of the Hillside strangler murders, looks briefly towards his attorneys as he listens to jurors return a sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for his part in the murders during sentencing, Nov. 18, 1983 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. (AP Photo/Pool)
  • Aerial view shows destruction of mud flow in Armero, Colombia in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, Nov. 18, 1985. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
  • Mickey and Minnie Mouse lead a group of 4000 children from 116 cities down Main Street USA during Mickey Mouse’s 60th birthday party at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on Nov. 18, 1988. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
  • East German visitors queue for oranges in Hof, West Germany, Nov. 18, 1989 on the second weekend of free travel to the west. Oranges and fresh fruit are in short supply in the East. (AP Photo/Horst Schaefer)
  • A group of Somali refugees onboard the freighter Samaa-1 display a banner reading: “We Hope For the Best Because of Clinton,” after docking in the Yemeni port of Aden on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 1992. the sagging freighter, packed to its smokestack with desperate Somali refugees, staggered into Aden harbor after two harrowing weeks at sea. (AP Photo/Santiago Lyon)
  • Mark Settlemyer, left, gets help clearing snow from the roof of his mother’s house from Ken Wesley on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014, in Lancaster, N.Y. Lake-effect snow pummeled areas around Buffalo for a second straight day, leaving residents stuck in their homes as officials tried to clear massive snow mounds with another storm looming. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
  • This is a general view of the National Women’s Conference March in Houston, Texas, where 20,000 women convened to debate the issues that effect them, Nov. 18, 1977. Former Congresswoman Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) can be seen at center wearing her trademark hat. (AP Photo)
  • This is the torch run of the National Women’s Conference March in Houston, Texas, where 20,000 women convened to debate the issues that effect them, Nov. 18, 1977. Former Congresswoman Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.), wearing her trademark hat, and Betty Friedan (left, in red coat) marches along in front of the flags. Torch bearer is Peggy Kokernot. (AP Photo)
  • Entertainer Judy Garland, right, looks a little starstruck as she meets Queen Elizabeth II in the foyer of the Palladium Theater in London, after a royal variety performance, Nov. 18, 1957. Garland was one of a group of stage stars who appeared before a glittering audience, among whom were the queen and other members of the royal family. (AP Photo)
  • The New York Rangers, members of the National Hockey League, are working hard in preparation for the opening of the hockey season. They will make their first home appearance in New York Nov. 18, 1928. Left to right top row, Billy Boyd, Butch Keeling, manager Lester Patrick, Ching Johnson, Myles Lane, Taffy Abel, Paul Thompson. Bottom Row–Trainer Harry Westerby, Murray Murdock, Frank Boucher, Bill Cook, John Ross, Leo Bourgault, and Bunny Cook. (AP Photo)
  • New York Governor and President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt has a happy reunion with his staff in Albany, N.Y., Nov. 18, 1932, following his election and subsequent mild illness. (AP Photo)

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Brenda Vaccaro is 82. Author-poet Margaret Atwood is 82. Actor Linda Evans is 79. Actor Susan Sullivan is 79. Country singer Jacky Ward is 75. Actor Jameson Parker is 74. Actor-singer Andrea Marcovicci is 73. Rock musician Herman Rarebell is 72. Singer Graham Parker is 71. Actor Delroy Lindo is 69. Comedian Kevin Nealon is 68. Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon is 65. Actor Oscar Nunez is 63. Actor Elizabeth Perkins is 61. Singer Kim Wilde is 61. Actor Tim Guinee is 59. Rock musician Kirk Hammett (Metallica) is 59. Rock singer Tim DeLaughter is 56. Actor Romany Malco is 53. Actor Owen Wilson is 53. Actor Dan Bakkedahl is 53. Singer Duncan Sheik is 52. Actor Mike Epps is 51. Actor Peta Wilson is 51. Actor Chloe Sevigny is 47. Country singer Jessi Alexander is 45. Actor Steven Pasquale is 45. Rock musician Alberto Bof (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real) is 44. Rapper Fabolous is 44. Actor-director Nate Parker is 42. Rapper Mike Jones is 41. Actor Mekia Cox is 40. Actor-comedian Nasim Pedrad is 40. Actor Allison Tolman is 40. Actor Christina Vidal is 40. Actor Damon Wayans Jr. is 39. Country singer TJ Osborne (Brothers Osborne) is 37. U.S. Olympic track star Allyson Felix is 36. Fashion designer Christian Siriano is 36. Actor Nathan Kress is 29.

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