Being in the limelight is not necessarily something one wants for their whole life. Despite the curiosity that fans may continue to have, the limelighted person may prefer to let the glare go away.
Such is seemingly the case with Christina Licorice McKechnie. A member of the Incredible String Band and with them when they performed at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, little if anything is known about her currently with any certainty.
Christina Licorice McKechnie
Edinburgh
McKechnie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on October 2, 1945. In the early 1960s she met Robin Williamson, one of the founding members of the Incredible String Band. She left home with the intention of marrying Bert Jansch, another British folk musician who became a revered leader of the British folk scene.
The wedding never took place.
McKechnkie rejoined Wiliamson and in 1966 she traveled to Morocco him. She became a member of the Incredible String Band performing mainly as a backing vocalist and percussionist.
We can hear her especially on the song “Painting Box.”
She left the band in 1972 when she and Robin Williamson parted ways.
Christina Licorice McKechnie
Woodstock
I wish I could say more about their Woodstock performance. They were scheduled to play on Friday with the other folk-based performers, but the disrupted scene forced the festival’s organizers to postpone ISR’s performance to the far more loudly electric Saturday.
It was late that afternoon and friend Tony and I were getting hungry, not having eaten anything since Friday dinner. ISB’s performance slot seemed like a good time to search for some sustenance at the Food for Love concessions. No food and little love. And no Licorice.
Christina Licorice McKechnie
Mystery
Her current status is a mystery. Some say they saw her hitchhiking in California decades ago. She is assumed dead by many who say they should have heard from her but haven’t. Others say that they have heard from her and she prefers anonymity.
Here is a link to a page that appears to be a fan site.
The Incredible String Band occupies an interesting piece of the 60s I was familiar with their music thanks to FM radio, Many find their music inaccessible, but with a bit of time and attention, I find most of the Band’s compositions wonderful.
October 2, 1800: Nat Turner born in Southampton County, Virginia, the week before Gabriel Prosser (see Aug 30) was hanged. While still a young child, Nat was overheard describing events that had happened before he was born. This, along with his keen intelligence, and other signs marked him in the eyes of his people as a prophet “intended for some great purpose.” (next BH, see February 15, 1804; see Turner for full chronology)
”SCOTTSBORO BOYS”
October 2, 1932: American Legion members helped Los Angeles police break up a rally of 1,000 people at the Long Beach Free Speech Zone, who were supporting defendants in the famous Scottsboro case. Two people were arrested in the incident on this day, which was one of 11 political meetings reportedly broken up by LA police in 1932, often with assistance of the American Legion. (see Scottsboro Travesty)
Isaac Woodard Jr
On February 12, 1946 former U.S. Army Sergeant Isaac Woodard Jr. was on a Greyhound Lines bus traveling from Camp Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, where he had been discharged, en route to rejoin his family in North Carolina. When the bus reached a rest stop just outside of Augusta, Woodard asked the bus driver if there was time for him to use a restroom.
The bus stopped in Batesburg (now Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina), near Aiken. Though Woodard had caused no disruption, the driver contacted the local police (including Chief of Police Linwood Shull), who forcibly removed Woodard from the bus. After demanding to see his discharge papers, a number of policemen, including Shull, took Woodard to a nearby alleyway, where they beat him repeatedly with nightsticks. They then took Woodard to the town jail and arrested him for disorderly conduct, accusing him of drinking beer in the back of the bus with other soldiers.
On October 2, 1946, Chief of Police Linwood Shull and several of his officers were indicted in U.S. District Court in Columbia, South Carolina. It was within federal jurisdiction because the beating had occurred at a bus stop on federal property and at the time Woodard was in uniform of the armed services. The case was presided over by Judge Julius Waties Waring. (next BH, see Oct 22; see Woodward for expanded story)
Savannah, Ga
October 2, 1963: Savannah, Ga., desegregated its lunch counters, theaters and restaurants. The decision followed months of marches and boycotts. [Savannah Now article] (see Oct 7)
SOUTH AFRICA/APARTHEID
October 2, 1986: the US Senate overrode President Reagan’s veto of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act and the bill became a law. [NYT article] (see June 13, 1988)
George Whitmore, Jr
October 2, 1988: The New York Times published an article by Selwyn Raab, who interviewed Richard Robles in light of a forthcoming pardon hearing. Raab quoted Robles as saying that he broke into the Wylie-Hoffert apartment believing no one was home. He was looking for money to support his $15-a-day heroin habit, but when he encountered Wylie he raped her. Then he bound her and was preparing to leave when Hoffert came home. He took $30 from her purse and bound her as well. As he again prepared to leave, Hoffert said, “I”m going to remember you for the police. You”re going to jail.” When she said that, Robles continued, “I just went bananas. My head just exploded. I got to kill. You”re mind just races and races. It’s almost like you”re not you.” He said he clubbed both women unconscious with pop bottles, then slashed and stabbed them with knives he found in their kitchen. (see George Whitmore for expanded story)
Amadou Diallo
October 2, 2012: more than 13 years after the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly agreed to restore a service weapon to Kenneth Boss, one of the four New York City officers involved, a decision that Mr. Diallo’s mother characterized as a betrayal. [NYT article] (see Oct 8)
Botham Shem Jean
October 2, 2019: a jury sentenced a former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger to 10 years in prison for the shooting death of Botham Jean, her unarmed neighbor in his home. Guyger was convicted of murder the day before by the same jury in the death of Jean.
The sentence was met with boos and jeers by a crowd gathered outside the courtroom. But Jean’s younger brother, Brandt Jean, in a victim impact statement after the sentence, told Guyger he forgave her and loved her as he would any other person. He asked the judge if he could hug Guyger, and the two embraced as Guyger sobbed (next B & S, see Oct 9, next BSJ, see Dec 23)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Cannabis
Samuel R. Caldwell
October 2, 1937: the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act had gone into effect on October 1, 1937 and this date, the FBI and Denver, Colorado police raided the Lexington Hotel and arrested Samuel R. Caldwell, 58, an unemployed laborer and Moses Baca, 26.
On Oct. 5, Caldwell went into the history trivia books as the first marijuana seller convicted under U.S. federal law. His customer, Baca, was found guilty of possession.
Caldwell was sentenced to four years of hard labor in Leavenworth Penitentiary, plus a $1,000 fine. Baca received 18 months incarceration. Both men served every day of their sentence.
A year after Caldwell was released from prison, he died. [Trend article]
LaGuardia Report
In 1944: In 1938, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia had requested that the New York Academy of Medicine conduct an investigation of marijuana.
The 1944 report, titled “The Marihuana Problem in the City of New York,” but commonly referred to as the “LaGuardia Report,” concludes that many claims about the dangers of marijuana are exaggerated or untrue. It read in part: “The practice of smoking marihuana does not lead to addiction in the medical sense of the word… The use of marihuana does not lead to morphine or heroin or cocaine addiction and no effort is made to create a market for these narcotics by stimulating the practice of marihuana smoking… Marihuana is not the determining factor in the commission of major crimes… The publicity concerning the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking in New York City is unfounded.” (next Cannabis, see August 31, 1948 or see CC for expanded Cannabis chronology)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
Coal miners strike
October 2, 1949: joining with 400,000 coal miners already on strike, 500,000 CIO steel workers close down the nation’s foundries, steel and iron mills, demanding pensions and better wages and working conditions. (see “in November”)
Starbucks Workers Union
October 2, 2007: Starbucks Workers Union baristas at an outlet in East Grand Rapids, Mich., organized by the Wobblies, win their grievances after the National Labor Relations Board cites the company for labor law violations, including threats against union activists. (see Nov 5)
October 2 – 6, 1963: the 1963 World Series matched the two-time defending champion N Y Yankees against the L A Dodgers, with the Dodgers sweeping the Series in four games to capture their second title in five years. The World Series Most Valuable Player Award went to Sandy Koufax, who started two of the four games and had two complete game victories. [Bleacher Report article]
St Louis v Detroit
October 2 – 10, 1968: St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning in seven games. [Wikipedia article]
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
October 2 Music et al
Cultural Milestone & Roots of Rock
October 2, 1967,: DJ Rosko of WOR-FM, the first NYC FM station to play rock music, resigned over corporate interference with his choices of music. (”When are we going to learn that controlling something does not take it out of the minds of people?” and declaring, ”In no way can I feel that I can continue my radio career by being dishonest with you.”
He added that he would rather return to being a men’s-room attendant. (CM, see Oct 3; RR, see Oct 7)
Grateful Dead
October 2, 1967: all six members of The Grateful Dead were busted by California narcotics agents for possession of marijuana at the groups’ 710 Ashbury Street House in San Francisco. (see January 31, 1970)
Don Cornelius
October 2, 1971: Don Cornelius began Soul Train. He will host the show until 1993 and introduce to mainstream TV many Black artists who otherwise would not have had a TV forum. (BH, see Nov 2; DC, see March 25, 2006)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
AIDS & Ryan White
October 2, 1985: school principal upheld decision to prohibit White. (see Ryan White)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Clinton Impeachment
Clinton announces
October 2, 1991: Bill Clinton announced he would seek the 1992 Democratic nomination for President.
Starr investigation
October 2, 1998: the House Judiciary Committee releases another 4,610 pages of supporting material from Ken Starr’s investigation, including transcripts of grand jury testimony and transcripts of the Linda Tripp-Monica Lewinsky tapes. (see Clinton for expanded story)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Operation Gothic Serpent
October 2, 1993: U.S. Army conducted Operation Gothic Serpent in the city of Mogadishu, Somalia using Task Force Ranger.
Two UH-60 Blackhawks were shot down and the operation left over 1000 Somalians dead and over 73 Americans WIA, 19 KIA, and 1 captured. [World Atlas article]
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
IRAQ II
October 2, 2002: the US Congress passed a joint resolution, which authorized the President to use the Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq. [Text of resolution](see Oct 16)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Women’s Health
Estelle Griswold
October 2, 1961: Estelle Griswold was the executive director of Planned Parenthood in New Haven, CT. On October 2 she placed an ad in the local paper that her office was opening its own birth control clinic where married couples cold come to get whatever information or devices they needed. Though unenforced, access to birth control in Connecticut was illegal. (next WH & EG, see Nov 10)
Texas
October 2, 2014: a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans sided with Texas in its yearlong legal battle over its sweeping abortion law and allowed the state to enforce one of the law’s toughest provisions while the case was being appealed.Thirteen abortion clinics in Texas were forced to close immediately.
The ruling gave Texas permission to require all abortion clinics in the state to meet the same building, equipment and staffing standards as hospital-style surgical centers, standards that abortion providers said were unnecessary and costly, but that the state argued improved patient safety.
Thirteen clinics whose facilities did not meet the new standards were to be closed overnight, leaving Texas — a state with 5.4 million women of reproductive age, ranking second in the country — with eight abortion providers, all in Houston, Austin and two other metropolitan regions. No abortion facilities wouldl be open west or south of San Antonio. [NYT article] (BC, see Oct 14; Texas, see June 27, 2016)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
Vatican
October 2, 2015: the Vatican said that Pope Francis’s encounter with Kim Davis, which was interpreted by many as a subtle intervention in the United States’ same-sex marriage debate, was part of a series of meetings with dozens of guests and did not amount to an endorsement of her view. Ms. Davis was among the guests ushered into the Vatican’s embassy for a brief meeting with him, the Vatican said.
“The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis, and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said in a statement. [Rolling Stone article] (see Nov 2)
Same-sex/diplomats
October 2, 2018: US State Department officials said that the Trump administration would no longer issue family visas to same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomats or employees of international organizations who work in the United States.
It also applied to people working in the US for the United Nations, the World Bank, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other groups. [NYT article] (see Oct 21)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Pledge of Allegiance & Student Rights
October 2, 2017: the principal of Windfern High School (Cy-Fair ISD, TX) suspended India Landry for her refusal to stand during the pledge of allegiance. It was something she’d done before. (next SR, Dec 21; Pledge & Landry, see July 19, 2018)
Immigration History
October 2, 2018: according to a report issued by the Office of Inspector General, the watchdog agency for the Dept of Homeland Security, the DHS was not prepared to implement the policy which directed the government to criminally prosecute immigrant parents—and separate them from their children—once they crossed the United States-Mexico border, nor was the agency ready to deal with the program’s fallout.
And not only did Customs and Border Protection (CBP) hold immigrant children for extended periods of time in cells intended for short-term detention, but the DHS struggled to identify, track and reunite separated families, according to the report. [Colorlines article] (see Oct 15)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
October 2, 2021: a pipeline failure off the coast of Orange County, Calif., caused at least 126,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Pacific Ocean, creating a 13-square-mile slick that continued to grow.
Dead fish and birds washed ashore in some places as cleanup crews raced to try to contain the spill, which created a slick that extended from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach.
It was not immediately clear what caused the leak, which officials said occurred three miles off the coast of Newport Beach and involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly that is operated by Beta Offshore. [NYT article] (next EI, see Oct 6)
October 2 Peace Love Art Activism
Fair Housing
October 2, 2023: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it was making $30,370,597 available to fair housing organizations across the nation working to fight housing discrimination. The funds would support a variety of activities, including fair housing education and outreach, testing and enforcement, through the Department’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). [HUD announcement] (next FH, see Oct 24)
October 1, 1851: citizens of Syracuse, N.Y., broke into the city’s police station and freed William Henry (known as Jerry), a runaway slave who had been working as a barrel-maker. A group of black and white men created a diversion and managed to free Jerry, but he was later rearrested.
At his second hearing, a group of men, their skin color disguised with burnt cork, forcibly overpowered the guards with clubs and axes, and freed Jerry a second time. He was then secretly taken over the border to Canada. [Syracuse dot com article] (Slave Revolts, see Oct 16 – 17, 1959; BH, see March 20, 1852)
Elaine, Arkansas
October 1, 1919: a race riot broke out in Elaine, Arkansas. Black sharecroppers were meeting in the local chapter of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America. Planters opposed their efforts to organize for better terms and the sharecroppers had been warned of trouble. A white man intent on arresting a black bootlegger approached the lookouts defending the meeting, and was shot. The planters formed a militia to attack the African-American farmers. In the ensuing riot they killed between 100 and 200 blacks, and five whites also died. [Black Past article] (next BH, see Oct 11; next RR, see May 31 and June 1, 1921; next Lynching, see Dec 27; Elaine continued, see February 19, 1923; for for expanded chronology, see American Lynching 2)
Perez v. Sharp
October 1, 1948: by a 4–3 vote, the California Supreme Court, in Perez v. Sharp, struck down an 1850 state law banning interracial marriage. The case involved Andrea Perez, who was a Mexican-American but classified as “white” by the state at that time, and Sylvester Davis, who was African-American. Reportedly, this was the first time any court in the U.S. had ruled on the issue of racial intermarriage.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared interracial marriage bans unconstitutional in the famous case of Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967.
The Court: “In summary, we hold that sections 60 and 69 are not only too vague and uncertain to be enforceable regulations of a fundamental right, but that they violate the equal protection of the laws clause of the United States Constitution by impairing the right of individuals to marry on the basis of race . . . alone and by arbitrarily and unreasonably discriminating against certain racial groups.” [Atlantic article] (see Dec 10)
James H Meredith
October 1, 1962: in the fall of 1962, the University of Mississippi was the scene of violent riots in protest of James Meredith’s attempts to enroll as the segregated school’s first black student. In June 1962, after more than a year of litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ordered the university to admit Meredith. In response, Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett gave a televised speech on September 13, 1962, vowing to resist integration.
Meredith, a 29-year-old Air Force veteran born in Mississippi, sought to enroll at Ole Miss in September 1962. Governor Barnett, a member of the pro-segregation White Citizen’s Council, personally blocked him the first two times he tried, and sent Lt. Governor Paul Johnson to prevent Meredith’s enrollment a third time. On September 28, 1962, the Fifth Circuit unanimously held Barnett in contempt of court for violating his duty to maintain order and allow Meredith to lawfully enroll.
On September 30, 1962, the next date set for Meredith’s enrollment, mobs had formed on campus and riots raged, killing two people and injuring many others. The following day, October 1, 1962, federal marshals sent by President John F. Kennedy successfully escorted Meredith to enroll as the University of Mississippi’s first black student and accompanied him to his first day of classes.
Mississippi Attorney General Joe Pattersonsoon instructed university students it was their constitutional right to refuse “to socialize or fraternize with an undesirable student” and unrest continued. Meredith suffered ongoing isolation, harassment, and violence. In October, students rioted and broke university cafeteria windows as Meredith ate there; in December, Meredith’s home was struck by shotgun blasts that nearly injured his teenaged sister and a dead raccoon was left on his car. Nevertheless, Meredith remained and on August 18, 1963, he graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in political science. (BH, see Oct 16; Meredith, see January 20, 1963)
Muhammad Ali
October 1, 1975: Ali defeated Joe Frazier in the “Thrilla in Manila.” It is their third fight, each winning once before. Ali had expected an easy bout, but Frazier takes it to the champ. Ali wins the bout in one of the greatest battles in the history of boxing. [Guardian article] (BH, see Dec 2; next Ali, see September 28, 1976)
Medgar Evers
October 1, 1989: sealed documents from the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission revealed that at the same time that the state of Mississippi prosecuted Byron De La Beckwith in 1964 for the murder of NAACP leader Medgar Evers, another arm of the state, the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, secretly assisted Beckwith’s defense, trying to get him acquitted.
The revelation led the district attorney’s office to reopen and re-prosecute the case against Beckwith. It was the first of a series of prosecutions of unpunished killings from the civil rights era. (see ME for expanded chronology)
137 SHOTS
October 1, 2018: East Cleveland Judge William L. Dawson denied a request by five Cleveland police supervisors to dismiss misdemeanor charges related to the 2012 chase that ended in a deadly shooting.
Defense attorneys for the five supervisors had argued during a July 9 hearing that dereliction-of-duty charges should be dismissed due to a series of procedural issues. They contended the supervisors’ right to speedy trials had been violated; more than five-and-a-half years had passed since the Nov. 29, 2012 chase that ended in the deaths of the unarmed Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
Judge Dawson noted in a Sept. 20 ruling that statutory requirements for speedy trials do not apply because the case was previously appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, which ruled last year the trial could be held in East Cleveland. (see 137 for expanded chronology)
Botham Shem Jean
October 1, 2019: a jury found former officer Amber R. Guyger who shot Botham Shem Jean, her unarmed black neighbor in his own apartment, guilty of murder.
Guyger, who is white, was charged in the death of her 26-year-old neighbor after she said she accidentally went to the wrong floor of their apartment complex, entered the unit directly above hers and fatally shot him last year. Guyger claimed she thought she was entering her own apartment and acting in self-defense against an intruder. [NYT article] (B & S and BSJ, see Oct 2)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
US Labor History
LA Times Bombing
October 1, 1910: an ink storage room in the L.A. Times building was dynamited during a citywide fight over labor rights and organizing. The explosion was relatively minor, but it set off a fire in the unsafe, difficult-to-evacuate building, ultimately killing 21.
A union member eventually confessed to the bombing, which he said was supposed to have occurred early in the morning when the building would have been largely unoccupied. [2017 LAT article] (Labor, see Nov 26; LA Times, see December 5, 1911)
ILA Strike
October 1, 2024: nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) went on strike against the nation’s East and Gulf Coast ports choking off the flow of many of the nation’s imports and exports in what could become America’s most disruptive work stoppage in decades. [CNN article] (next LH, see Oct 3)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
FEMINISM
Voting Rights
October 1, 1918: U.S. Senate defeated federal woman suffrage amendment by vote of 34 nays to 62 yeas, two votes shy of required two-thirds majority. Amendment’s supporters quickly add it to Senate calendar for reconsideration. (see Oct 7)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
The Red Scare
October 1, 1949: Chairman Mao Zedong declared victory in the Chinese Civil War, creating the Communist People’s Republic of China. (see Oct 7)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
INDEPENDENCE DAYS
October 1, 1960
1) Cyprus independent from United Kingdom
2) Nigeria independent from United Kingdom (see ID for complete listing of the decades Independence days)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
FREE SPEECH
STUDENT ACTIVISM
October 1, 1964: the Free Speech Movement was launched at the University of California at Berkeley. Students insisted that the university administration lift the ban of on-campus political activities and acknowledge the students’ right to free speech and academic freedom. (see Student Free Speech for expanded story)
Colin Kaepernick
October 1, 2016: in college football, before East Carolina took on the University of Central Florida, a few members of ECU’s band took a knee during the national anthem. People in the crowd noticed, and the response was split between students and alum.
When it came time for the band to perform at halftime, there were many boos directed at them.
ECU chancellor Cecil Staton issued a statement shortly after, saying that the school “respects the rights of our students, staff and faculty to express their personal views.” (see FS & CK, see Oct 4)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
October 1 Music et al
Jimi Hendrix
October 1, 1966: Cream was playing a show at London Polytechnic. Hendrix asked Eric Clapton if he could jam with them and did playing “Killing Floor” amazing the audience as well as the members of Cream. (see Dec 26)
Abbey Road
October 1, 1969: US release of Abbey Road. (see Oct 12)
October 1, 1969: Daniel Ellseberg, with his Rand Corporation colleague Anthony Russo, began copying the secret Pentagon Papers in Los Angeles on this day. The Papers, which they had obtained while working at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, had been commissioned by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in 1967 because of his growing doubts about the Vietnam War. (see DE/PP for expanded story)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Nuclear/Chemical News
October 1, 1979: The Progressive Magazine on this day published an article by Howard Morland on the hydrogen bomb, which the government claimed revealed the “secret” of how to make the bomb. The government enjoined the publication of that issue (March 9, 1979), but after lengthy legal proceedings finally gave up. Morland maintained that the article only discussed the conceptual aspects of the H-Bomb, with no technical engineering details necessary to make one. And no authority has since claimed that the article contains the “secret” to the H-bomb.
The affair echoed an incredible incident nearly 30 years earlier when government officials, on March 31, 1950, seized and burned all 3,000 copies of the respected magazine Scientific American, because they alleged that an article on atomic energy revealed the “secret” to the atomic bomb. Coming at the height of the Cold War, the incident passed with only very limited news coverage and public protest. [Progressive article] (see January 2, 1980)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
LGBTQ
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
October 1, 1986: the following excerpt from a letter was delivered by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect [the future Pope Benedictus XVI] and approved and ordered published by Pope John Paul II: “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.
Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition; lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.” (see March 10, 1987)
Registered Partnership Act
October 1, 1989: the Registered Partnership Act went into effect in Denmark. It was the first law in the world that allowed civil unions between homosexual couples. (see February 26, 1990)
Connecticut
October 1, 2005: Connecticut’s civil union state law goes into effect. (see Nov 8)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
CLINTON IMPEACHMENT
October 1, 2001: the Supreme Court suspended former President Bill Clinton from practicing before the high court.
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
STAND YOUR GROUND LAW
October 1, 2005: Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law went into effect. (see February 26, 2012)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Occupy Wall Street
October 1, 2011, Occupy Wall Street protesters set out to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The NY Times reported that more than 700 arrests were made. (see Oct 5)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Voting Rights
October 1, 2014: a federal appeals court ordered a lower court to block two new voting restrictions in North Carolina, saying there was “no doubt” the measures would disenfranchise minorities. North Carolina would be required to reinstate same-day voter registration, as well as allow voters to cast ballots even if they show up to vote in the wrong precinct.
In a two-to-one ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that “whether the number is thirty or thirty-thousand, surely some North Carolina minority voters will be disproportionately adversely affected in the upcoming election” and that it was important to act now, since “there could be no do-over and no redress” once the election was over. (VR, see Oct 9; North Carolina, see April 6, 2015)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
Environmental Issues
October 1, 2015: the Obama administration unveiled a major new regulation on smog-causing emissions that spew from smokestacks and tailpipes, significantly tightening the current Bush-era standards but falling short of more stringent regulations that public health advocates and environmentalists had urged.
The Environmental Protection Agency set the new national standard for ozone, a smog-causing gas that often forms on hot, sunny days when chemical emissions from power plants, factories and vehicles mix in the air, at 70 parts per billion, tightening the current standard of 75 parts per billion set in 2008. Smog has been linked to asthma, heart and lung disease, and premature death. [NYT article] (see Nov 6)
Immigration History
October 1, 2020: the NY Times reported that Judge Jeffrey S. White of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that President Trump overstepped his authority in suspending new visas for hundreds of thousands of foreign workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, enabling major companies like Microsoft, Goodyear Tire and Exxon Mobil to resume bringing employees from abroad.
White temporarily blocked further implementation of the sweeping order, issued on June 22, as it applied to thousands of companies seeking to bring workers to the United States on a wide array of visas, including the H-1B for high-skilled workers, seasonal employees on guest-worker visas and others, such as au pairs, who enter the country on cultural exchange visas.
“Congress’ delegation of authority in the immigration context does not afford the President unbridled authority to set domestic policy regarding employment of non-immigrant foreigners,” the judge wrote in his 25-page decision. [next IH, see Oct 9)
October 1 Peace Love Art Activism
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
