A Brief History On September 2, 1963, CBS Evening News made TV history by becoming the first major nightly news show to be 30 minutes long instead of only 15 minutes.  Prior to this event, the evening news was 15 minutes of local and 15 minutes of national news. Digging Deeper Other big changes to TV news include NBC switching its national news shows to color in 1966, quickly matched by rivals ABC and CBS.  Still, a majority of Americans watched the news in black and white until 1972 when color TVs finally became the majority. Cleveland’s Dorothy Fuldheim became…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on September 1st.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On September 1, 1715, King Louis XIV of France died after having ruled for 72 years, the longest reign of a king or queen of any major European country. On September 1st, 1914, Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, was found dead in her cage by her keepers at the Cincinnati Zoo. On September 1, 1914, the last known living Passenger Pigeon died…

A Brief History On September 1, 2004, terrorists seeking the independence of Chechnya from Russia invaded School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia, taking 1,100 hostages, of which well over 700 were school children.  The incident lasted three days and cost 333 innocent lives and the lives of 31 of the 32 terrorists. Digging Deeper The Riyad-us Saliheen attackers had pre-staged weapons and explosives in the school weeks before the attack.  A standoff followed demands that Chechnya be given independence, and after three days, Russian forces began an assault that triggered explosions and shooting by the terrorists and a…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 31st.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 31, 1535, King Henry VIII of England was kicked out of the Catholic Church by Pope Paul III, although a more official excommunication would come three years later. On August 31, 1854, a seminal moment in the history of illness and scientific application of anti-disease efforts struck the Broad Street area of Soho, London, England, when a severe cholera outbreak…

A Brief History On August 31, 1535, King Henry VIII of England was kicked out of the Catholic Church by Pope Paul III, although a more official excommunication would come three years later.  Previously, Pope Clement VII had refused to grant Henry an annulment from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and threatened excommunication if the King persisted. Digging Deeper Other notable cases of ex-communication include: St. Joan of Arc, 1431, got the most extreme form of excommunication by being burned at the stake for blasphemy and heresy, although she was later acquitted. Martin Luther, 1521, excommunicated for defying the Catholic…