Way back when: Today in history
BY GENE CURTIS
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
2/05/13 at 2:33 AM
1972 - FAA orders screenings
U.S. airlines began screening passengers and baggage for weapons or sabotage devices under an order issued a few days earlier by the Federal Aviation Authority in response to the menace of airline hijackings, most of which would have been prevented if the new screening had been in place, FAA Administrator John H. Shaffer said. The FAA order specified four methods to check - a behavioral profile, a magnetometer device that can reveal metallic objects, an identification system or a manual search of person and baggage.
1997 - Holocaust fund established
A $71 million fund for Holocaust victims and their families was announced by Switzerland's "Big Three" banks because of international criticism of collusion with the Nazis during World War II. U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., described the move as "an important first step in dealing with this tragic, disgraceful period." Credit Suisse, Swiss Bank Corp. and the Union Bank of Switzerland said the fund was a humanitarian gesture. Jewish groups had claimed that $7 billion remains in World War II-era bank accounts from Jewish depositors.
1999 - Tyson sentenced
Former boxing champion Mike Tyson was sentenced to jail for a year by a Rockville, Md., judge who said he viewed the boxer's action after a three-car traffic accident "as a tragic example of potentially lethal road rage." Tyson had pleaded no contest in December to charges growing out of the traffic crash on Aug. 31 when he had kicked one motorist and punched another. Judge Stephen Johnson sentenced Tyson to a year in jail, fined him $5,000 and required him to serve 200 hours of community service.
2008 - Tornadoes rip South
Deadly tornadoes plowed across Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama in a two-day siege that left at least 54 people dead and hundreds injured. The storms flattened entire streets, blew the roof off a shopping mall, pummeled mobile homes, smashed warehouses and sent tractor-trailers flying. Thirty people were killed in Tennessee, 13 in Arkansas, 7 in Kentucky and 4 in Alabama, emergency officials said. Forecasters had warned for days that severe weather was possible and the Storm Prediction Center in Norman put out an alert six days in advance.
Associated Images:
Lawrence County, Ala., was just one place caught in a trail of tornadic destruction across the South. Associated Press
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