Today is Friday, Sept. 13, the 257th day of 2024. There are 109 days left in the year.
On Sept. 13, 2008, crews rescued people from their homes in an all-out search for thousands of Texans who had stayed behind overnight to face Hurricane Ike.
In 1788, the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election and declared New York City the temporary national capital.
In 1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate; she became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
In 1971, a four-day inmate rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in western New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; the ordeal and final assault claimed the lives of 32 inmates and 11 hostages.
In 1997, a funeral was held in Calcutta, India, for Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa.
In 1993, at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
In 2010, Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic to win his first U.S. Open title and complete a career Grand Slam.
In 2021, school resumed for New York City public school students in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
