1933 End to Prohibition in U.S.

The 18th Amendment prohibited manufacturing, selling and consuming alcohol. In this file photo,agents of the prohibition, who are surrounded by onlookers and a policeman, pour alcohol into a sewer, New York, circa 1930. (Imagno/Getty Images)

The 21st Amendment to the Constitution passed on Dec. 5, 1933, repealing the 18th Amendment and ending prohibition.  Instated in 1919, the 18th Amendment prohibited sales and consumption of alcohol.  Supporters of the 18th Amendment thought an alcohol ban would curb crime rates, but the law had the opposite effect. Racketeers and bootleggers illegally manufactured and distributed alcohol during prohibition. The ban was also costly for the government, which lost billions in tax revenue.

1978 Sen. Ted Stevens in Plane Crash

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens survived a 1978 Anchorage jet crash that killed five people.  His first wife, Ann, was among the fatalities.

Stevens was the longest-running Republican senator in U.S. history, serving in office from 1968 to 2009.  Ted Stevens was returning from a fishing trip Aug. 9, 2010, when the single-engine plane in which he was riding crashed.  Stevens and four others were killed.

  2007 Nebraska Mall Shooting

Nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins opened fire at the Von Maur department store in the Westroads Mall, Nebraska’s largest shopping mall.  Hawkins shot and killed eight people and then himself inside the mall.

  2008: O.J. Simpson Sentenced to Jail

Former NFL player O.J. Simpson was sentenced to at least 9 years on charges of kidnapping and armed robbery of sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. His jail sentence came 13 years after he was acquitted in the highly publicized trial in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

F amous Birthdays

1890 Fritz Lang

1901 Walt Disney

1902 Strom Thurmond

1932 Little Richard

1968 Margaret Cho

1979 Nick Stahl

1985 Frankie Muniz

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