Random News and Notes 30 September

On this date:

• 1630 – John Billington, one of the original pilgrims who sailed to the New World on the Mayflower, becomes the first man executed in the English colonies. He is hanged for having shot another man during a quarrel
• 1846 – The first anesthetized tooth extraction is performed by Dr. William Morton in Charleston, Massachusetts.
• 1864 – Confederate troops fail to retake Fort Harrison from the Union forces during the siege of Petersburg.
• 1911 – Italy declares war on Turkey over control of Tripoli.
• 1918 – Bulgaria pulls out of World War I.
• 1927 – Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season off Tom Zachary in Yankee Stadium, New York City.
• 1938 – Under German threats of war, Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign an accord permitting Germany to take control of Sudetenland–a region of Czechoslovakia inhabited by a German-speaking minority.
• 1939 – The French Army is called back into France from its invasion of Germany. The attack, code named Operation Saar, only penetrated five miles.
• 1943 – The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps becomes the Women’s Army Corps, a regular contingent of the U.S. Army with the same status as other army service corps.
• 1947 – The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-3, in Game 1 of the World Series—the first Fall Classic game broadcast on television.
• 1949 – The Berlin Airlift is officially halted after 277,264 flights.

• 1950 – U.N. forces cross the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea as they pursue the retreating North Korean Army.
• 1954 – The first nuclear powered submarine, the Nautilus, is commissioned in Groton, Connecticut.
• 1954 – NATO nations agree to arm and admit West Germany.
• 1955 – Actor and teen idol James Dean is killed in a car crash while driving his Porsche on his way to enter it into a race in Salinas, California.
• 1965 – The 30 September Movement unsuccessfully attempts coup against Indonesian government; an anti-communist purge in the aftermath results in over 500,000 deaths.
• 1966 – Bechuanaland ceases to be a British protectorate and becomes the independent Republic of Botswana.
• 1972 – Pro baseball great Roberto Clemente hits his 3,000th—and final—hit of his career. He would die in a plane crash 3 months later.
• 1975 – The AH-64 Apache attack helicopter makes its first flight.

We start the news on the Brooks River in Katmai National Park where a new champion has been crowned. Bear #89 “Backpack” has been acclaimed the Fattest Bear. In a tough, weeklong competition, Backpack stood above the rest as the bear that packed on the most pounds this summer.

Exact dates for next year’s contest have yet to be announced, but the event typically occurs near the end of September or early October.

I saw this one – and LMAO incidentally – so now you have to. A pair of TikTok influencers are facing arson charges in West Virginia after they allegedly set a fire that damaged a Methodist church. Dakota Harper, 21, and Felicity Eatmon, 22, face conspiracy to commit arson and first-degree arson charges after the Sunday night blaze on Maryland Avenue destroyed a vacant house and caused over $10,000 in damage to Canaan United Methodist Church. Surveillance from the alley shows Eatmon handing Harper what looks like a piece of paper. He lights it and sticks it in the house. Why is this news? Watch:

The couple are being held in lieu of $10,000 bond.

There is an interesting economic story brewing in Hamilton Ontario. A couple of years ago in what at the time seemed to be another round of steel manufacturers consolidating a US based company – Cleveland-Cliffs – bought the Stelco Hamilton works. The deal was worth some $3.4 billion and included provisions to keep a large part of the workforce employed. Well, Cleveland-Cliffs just announced they were shuttering cold-rolled and coated operations at the Hamilton Works plant starting around October 9, affecting roughly 350 steelworkers and up to 500 employees total.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the move a betrayal and vowed legal action to enforce the promises made by Cleveland-Cliffs as part of the deal.

Frankly, this is Carney’s fault. The US had one major ask for the Canadian steel industry: stop importing and rebranding Chinese steel and aluminum. They refused, so now they are facing a 50% tariff.

Passengers aboard a FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia this morning. The co-pilot – an Omani – stabbed the pilot repeatedly and then tried to crash the plane. Around 174 passengers, including 27 children, watched as crew and two Israeli pilots traveling as passengers restrained the co-pilot and took control to land the plane. The 737 Max plunged over 14,000 feet in seconds before the cockpit was breached and the copilot was restrained.

Dubai and Israeli officials are investigating this as terror related.