Ten years ago: Vice President Joe Biden flew into Baghdad, where he sought to reassure Iraq that America was not abandoning it as the U.S. military stepped back. An enormous drill began preliminary work on carving a half-mile chimney through solid rock to free 33 men trapped in a Chilean mine. Texas-born fugitive Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a suspected drug lord known as “the Barbie,” was arrested in Mexico. Seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens pleaded not guilty in Washington to charges of lying to Congress about whether he’d used steroids or human growth hormone. (Clemens went on trial in July 2011; the case abruptly ended in a mistrial. He was acquitted in a retrial.)
Five years ago: The White House announced that President Barack Obama would change the name of North America’s tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali, bestowing the traditional Alaska Native name on the eve of a historic presidential visit to Alaska. Jake Arrieta pitched the sixth no-hitter of the season and second against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 10 days, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 2-0 victory. Tokyo won the Little League World Series, defeating Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, 18-11. Movie writer-director Wes Craven, 76, who startled audiences with suburban slashers like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream,” died in Los Angeles. Neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, 82, author of “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat,” died in New York.
One year ago: Valerie Harper, a breakout star on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and then her own series, “Rhoda,” died at the age of 80; she had been battling cancer for years. Sirhan Sirhan, who’d been imprisoned for more than 50 years for the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was hospitalized after being stabbed by a fellow inmate at a San Diego prison. Hackers briefly gained control of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s account, sending racist and vulgar tweets to his 4.2 million followers. A Texas coroner’s report said Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs had died in July with a toxic mix of alcohol and the powerful painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his system.
