Today in History: September 29, 2010

By The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2010. There are 93 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:
On Sept. 29, 1910, the National Urban League had its beginnings as The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was established in New York.

On this date:
In 1789, the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.
In 1829, London’s reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.
In 1907, the foundation stone was laid for the Washington National Cathedral, which wasn’t fully completed until this date in 1990.
In 1918, Allied forces began their decisive breakthrough of the Hindenburg Line during World War I.
In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland.
In 1960, the situation comedy “My Three Sons,” starring Fred MacMurray, premiered on ABC. The musical “Irma La Douce” opened on Broadway.
In 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area. (To date, the case remains unsolved.)
In 1990, the Washington National Cathedral, begun in 1907, was formally completed with President George H.W. Bush overseeing the laying of the final stone atop the southwest pinnacle of the cathedral’s St. Paul Tower.

Ten years ago: Israeli riot police stormed a major Jerusalem shrine and opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim worshippers, killing four Palestinians and wounding 175.

Five years ago: John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

One year ago: New York City terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee) pleaded not guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in what authorities said was a planned attack on commuter trains.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Jerry Lee Lewis is 75. Television-film composer Mike Post is 66. Actress Patricia Hodge is 64. TV personality Bryant Gumbel is 62. Rock singer-musician Mark Farner is 62. Former child actor Ken Weatherwax (TV: “The Addams Family”) is 55.  Comedian-actor Andrew “Dice” Clay is 53. Rock singer John Payne (Asia) is 52. Actor Roger Bart is 48. Singer-musician Les Claypool is 47. Actress Jill Whelan is 44. Actor Luke Goss is 42. Actress Emily Lloyd is 40. Actress Natasha Gregson Wagner is 40. Actress Rachel Cronin is 39.  Country singer Katie McNeill (3 of Hearts) is 28. Rock musician Josh Farro (Paramore) is 23.

Thought for Today: “Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, American first lady (1884-1962).