December 15, 2020
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Today is Wednesday, Dec. 16, the 351st day of 2020. There are 15 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 16, 2000, President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to become the first African-American secretary of state.
On this date:
In 1773, the Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest tea taxes.
In 1809, the French Senate granted a divorce decree to Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Josephine (the dissolution was made final the following month).
In 1811, the first of the powerful New Madrid (MAD’-rihd) earthquakes struck the central Mississippi Valley with an estimated magnitude of 7.7.