Today is Tuesday, Sept. 7, the 250th day of 2010. There are 115 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 7, 1940, Nazi Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain during World War II with the first air attack on London.

On this date:

Today is Thursday, Sept. 2, the 245th day of 2010. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

On this date:

Today is Sunday, Aug. 29, the 241st day of 2010. There are 124 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast near Buras, La.; the resulting floods devastated the city of New Orleans. More than 1,800 people in the region died.

On this date:

Today is Monday, Aug. 23, the 235th day of 2010. There are 130 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 23, 1960, Broadway librettist Oscar Hammerstein (HAM'-ur-STYN') II, 65, died in Doylestown, Pa. nine months after the opening of his final collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers, "The Sound of Music."

On this date:

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2010. There are 136 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 17, 1960, the newly renamed Beatles (formerly the Silver Beetles), consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and just-hired drummer Pete Best, began their first gig in Hamburg, West Germany at the Indra Club.

On this date:

Today is Friday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2010. There are 140 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 13, 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at age 90.

On this date:

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 10, the 222nd day of 2010. There are 143 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 10, 1846, President James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution.

On this date:

Today is Monday, Aug. 2, the 214th day of 2010. There are 151 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis were later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)

On this date:

▪On Aug. 11, 1921, Alex Haley, author of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" is born in Ithaca, N.Y. Haley's next novel, "Roots" (1976), was a fictionalized account of his family's history, traced through seven generations. The novel was translated into 37 languages and won a special Pulitzer Prize.

▪On Aug. 10, 1937, the electric guitar was recognized by the United States Patent Office with the award of Patent No. 2,089.171 to G.D. Beauchamp for an instrument known as the Rickenbacker Frying Pan.

Today is Saturday, July 24, the 205th day of 2010. There are 160 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

▪ On July 22, 1598, William Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice" is entered on the Stationers' Register. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers' Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material.

▪ On July 19, 1799, a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing is discovered in Egypt. The artifact, called the Rosetta Stone, held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been "dead" for nearly 2,000 years.

Today is Monday, July 19, the 200th day of 2010. There are 165 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 19, 1553, King Henry VIII's daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen of England after teenage pretender Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the monarchy for nine days, was deposed. (Lady Jane Grey was later executed for high treason.)

On this date:

▪ On July 15, 1606, the great Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn is born in Leiden. Rembrandt completed more than 600 paintings, many of them portraits or self-portraits. By the age of 22, he was accomplished enough to take on his own students.

▪ On July 12, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signs into law a measure calling for the awarding of a U.S. Army Medal of Honor. The first U.S. Army soldiers to receive the honor were six members of a Union raiding party who in penetrated deep into Tennessee and Georgia to destroy bridges and railroad tracks.

Dallas, NC—Gaston County Museum will host its sixth Drop-in Day Camp of the year Thursday, July 22 at the museum.

The theme of this year’s Drop-in Day Campis “Discovering the Old South.” Each day campers will experience a different aspect of life in the 19th century. The headline for the July 22 Drop-in Day Camp is Tall Tales & American Myths. Campers will learn about the different groups that settled in our area by hearing traditional stories.

▪ On July 9, 1777, New York elects Brigadier Gen. George Clinton as the first governor of the independent state of New York. Clinton would go on to become New York's longest-serving governor, as well as the longest-serving governor in the United States, holding the post until 1795.

▪ On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry, representing the U.S. government, sails into Tokyo Bay, Japan. The Japanese accepted letters from President Millard Fillmore, making the United States the first Western nation in two centuries to establish relations with Japan.

Today is Thursday, July 1, the 182nd day of 2010. There are 183 days left in the year. This is Canada Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 1, 1910, the original Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox for eight decades, held its opening day under the name White Sox Park. (The home team lost to the St. Louis Browns, 2-0.)

On this date:

▪ On June 29, 1613, the Globe Theater, where most of Shakespeare's plays debuted, burns down. The Globe was built in 1599 from the timbers of London's very first permanent theater, Burbage's Theater, built in 1576.

▪ On July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The American War for Independence would last for five more years.

Today is Tuesday, June 22, the 173rd day of 2010. There are 192 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 22, 1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris.

On this date:

Today is Monday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2010. There are 193 days left in the year. Day. Summer arrives at 7:28 a.m. Eastern time.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 21, 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

On this date:

Today is Monday, June 7, the 158th day of 2010. There are 207 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for American independence from Britain.

On this date:

Today is Thursday, June 3, the 154th day of 2010. There are 211 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 3, 1808, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was born in Christian County, Ky.

On this date:

Today is Tuesday, June 1, the 152nd day of 2010. There are 213 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 1, 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the U.S. frigate Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, said, "Don't give up the ship" during a losing battle with a British frigate, the HMS Shannon, during the War of 1812.

On this date:

■ On May 28, 1754, George Washington, a young lieutenant colonel in the British Army and future president of the United States, leads an attack on French forces at Jumonville Glen in western Pennsylvania. The battle is later credited with being the opening salvo in the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763). It was Washington's first time in combat.

■ On May 26, 1897, the first copies of the classic vampire novel "Dracula," by Irish writer Bram Stoker, appear in London bookshops. In 1890, Stoker published his first novel, "The Snake's Pass." Stoker would go on to publish 17 novels in all, but it was "Dracula" that eventually earned him literary fame.

Marker to Honor Lincoln County’s General Charles Gabriel

STAFF REPORTS

LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA – The Lincoln County Historical Association cordially invites you to the dedication of the Lincoln County Historical Highway Marker for General Charles Gabriel on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. at 2613 East Main Street, Boger City, Lincoln County, North Carolina (near Bar-B-Que-King).

Major General Jerry Cochrane, Air National Guard, Retired, will be the Master of Ceremonies and the Lincolnton High School Air Force ROTC will deliver the Presentation of Colors. We are very fortunate to have at the ceremony four Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and special guests and family of General Gabriel.

■ On May 20, 1506, the great Italian explorer Christopher Columbus dies in Valladolid, Spain. Columbus, and most others, greatly underestimated the world's size. In 1492, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and in December he landed on Hispaniola, which he thought might be Japan.

■ On May 19, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln writes to anti-slavery Congressional leader Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, proposing that widows and children of soldiers should be given equal treatment regardless of race. As a result, Congress introduced a resolution (H.R. 406, Section 13) to provide for the equal treatment of the dependents of black soldiers.