Random News and Notes Hallowe’en edition

On this date:

• 1517 – Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. Luther’s theories and writings inaugurate Protestantism, shattering the external structure of the medieval church and at the same time reviving the religious consciousness of Europe.
• 1776 – in his first speech before British Parliament since the leaders of the American Revolution came together to sign the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all was not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.
• 1837 – The overloaded steamboat Monmouth carrying between 600 and 700 Creek (Muscogee) Indians from New Orleans to Arkansas collides violently with a sailboat being towed by another steamship. The Monmouth splits in half and sinks just north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Casualty reports vary, but it is believed the accident kills about half the Native American people aboard. It was the deadliest pre-Civil War steamboat disaster on the Mississippi River.

• 1838 – A mob of about 200 attacks a Mormon camp in Missouri, killing 20 men, women and children.
• 1864 – Nevada becomes the 36th state.
• 1926 – Harry Houdini, the most celebrated magician and escape artist of the 20th century, dies of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital. Twelve days before, Houdini had been talking to a group of students after a lecture in Montreal when he commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Suddenly, one of the students punched Houdini twice in the stomach. The magician hadn’t had time to prepare, and the blows ruptured his appendix. He fell ill on the train to Detroit, and, after performing one last time, was hospitalized.
• 1941 – After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed.
• 1952 – The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.

• 1961 – Five years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalinism and the “personality cult” of Soviet rulers at the 20th Party Congress, Joseph Stalin’s embalmed body is removed from Lenin’s tomb in Moscow’s Red Square.
• 1963 – Hundreds of spectators are gathered at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum for the “Holiday on Ice” skating exhibition, when, just after 11 pm, a propane gas explosion from the concession area rips through the Coliseum and shoots a 40-foot orange flame through the south-side seats.The explosion killed 54 people on site, and at least 20 more later died of their injuries. Nearly 400 additional people were injured.
• 1968 – The bombing of North Vietnam is halted by the United States.
• 1971 – Saigon begins the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW’s.
• 1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her bodyguard.

• 1998 – Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
• 1999 – EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into Atlantic Ocean killing all 217 people on board.
• 2002 – Former Enron Corp. CEO Andrew Fastow convicted on 78 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice and wire fraud; the Enron collapse cost investors millions and led to new oversight legislation.

We start the abbreviated news – this editor is working on a halloween post for later today – in Idaho where a 3 judge panel of the 9th circuit just stayed a lower court’s injunction, letting Idaho enforce its near-total abortion ban while the case Seyb v. Idaho Board of Medicine proceeds. The majority, Judges Kim Wardlaw and Consuelo Callahan, ruled that Idaho officials are likely to succeed, aligning with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that found no constitutional right to abortion. Judge Marsha Berzon dissented, arguing Dobbs left room for maternal health protections.

daho Attorney General Raul Labrador hailed it as a win for protecting unborn children and mothers, with the case set for further briefing into 2027.

Virginia Delegate Tom Garrett revealed a certificate signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger that restored voting rights and other privileges to Biscuit Rigsby, a dog from Goochland County that died five years ago. The document claims the executive branch reviewed the dog’s ‘criminal case,’ though the owner confirmed Biscuit was never convicted of a felony.

This follows a similar issue with ‘Betty No Last Name,’ prompting Republican calls for an audit amid concerns over the rights-restoration process ahead of Virginia’s Nov. 3 vote on automatic restoration for felons. Spanberger’s office insists no dog’s rights were restored, attributing it to a human record with a birth date and Social Security number.