• Today is Friday, Oct. 26, the 300th day of 2012. There are 66 days left in the year.
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• Today's Highlight in History:
• On Oct. 26, 1942, Japanese planes badly damaged the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during World War II. (The Hornet sank early the next morning; the battle itself ended in a tactical victory for Japan, but ultimately a strategic win for the Allies.)
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• On this date:
• In 1774, the First Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia.
• In 1825, the Erie Canal opened in upstate New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
• In 1861, the legendary Pony Express officially ceased operations, giving way to the transcontinental telegraph. (The last run of the Pony Express was completed the following month.)
• In 1881, the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" took place in Tombstone, Ariz.
• In 1902, women's rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton died in New York at age 86.
• In 1921, the Chicago Theatre, billed as "the Wonder Theatre of the World," first opened.
• In 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.
• In 1958, Pan American Airways flew its first Boeing 707 jetliner from New York to Paris in 8 hours and 41 minutes.
• In 1962, the thriller "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, had its premiere in New York.
• In 1972, national security adviser Henry Kissinger declared, "Peace is at hand" in Vietnam. Aviation innovator Igor Sikorsky died in Easton, Conn., at age 83.
• In 1979, South Korean President Park Chung-hee was shot to death during a dinner party along with his chief bodyguard by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-kyu, who was later executed.
• In 1982, the medical drama "St. Elsewhere" premiered on NBC.

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