Bethel Daily Briefing: Wednesday, February 8

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012

WEATHER from National Weather Service

Wednesday: A slight chance of snow showers after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

 Wednesday Night: A slight chance of snow showers before 2am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 21. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Victoria Grimes of Bethel, CT, a freshman majoring in Chemical Engineering, was named to the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Dean's List for academic excellence for the fall 2011 semester.

Discover Bethel Restaurant Week, Feb 27-March 4. Bethel Chamber of Commerce. Much more to come on this!

MUNICIPAL MEETINGS:

Housing Authority, 6:30 pm, Community Room, 25 Reynolds Ridge

Public Site and Building Commission 7:30 pm. Room B, Municipal Center

GARDENING HINTS from Old Farmer's Almanac

Spread wood ashes around lilacs to benefit growth and bloom in the spring.

TODAY IN HISTORY from  Wikipedia

1693 – The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.

1855 – The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.

1865 – In the United States, Delaware voters reject the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery.

1887 – The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.

1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1915 – D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.

1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.

1946 – The first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published.

1952 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom.

1960 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor".

1960 – The first eight brass star plaques are installed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1965 – After taking evasive maneuvers to avoid a mid-air collision immediately after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.

1968 – American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town's only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.

1971 – South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.

1974 – After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.

1978 – Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.

1993 – General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.

1996 – The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.

1996 – The massive Internet collaboration "24 Hours in Cyberspace" takes place.

2001 – Disney California Adventure Park opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

Have an announcement or an interesting bit of news?  Let us know!  Click here or email Christine Rose at RosepetL5@aol.com