Ten years ago: A presidential commission said the Obama administration had blocked efforts by government scientists to tell the American public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could become and committed other missteps that raised questions about its competence and candor during the crisis. Roy Halladay pitched the second no-hitter in postseason history, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NL division series. Social networking app Instagram was launched by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
Five years ago: Gen. John F. Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, recommended before Congress that President Barack Obama revise his plan to cut the current U.S. force of 9,800 and keep more than 1,000 U.S. troops in the country beyond 2016. Takaaki Kajita of Japan and Arthur McDonald of Canada won the Nobel Prize in physics for key discoveries about neutrinos, a cosmic particle that whizzes through space at nearly the speed of light, passing easily through Earth and even people’s bodies. Convicted killer Juan Martin Garcia was executed by Texas for fatally shooting another man in a robbery that yielded just $8.
One year ago: The White House said U.S. forces in northeast Syria would move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish assault, essentially abandoning Kurdish fighters who’d fought alongside American forces against Islamic State militants. (Turkey would launch the assault days later.) The FBI said California prison inmate Samuel Little, who claimed to have killed more than 90 women across the country, was considered to be the deadliest serial killer in U.S. history, and that all of his confessions appeared to be credible. Ginger Baker, the drummer who helped shatter boundaries of time, tempo and style in popular music during his work with Cream and other bands, died at the age of 80. Comedian Rip Taylor died in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 88.