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• Five years ago: Declaring that ending pay disparity is not just a women's issue, President Barack Obama signed The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, giving workers more time to take their pay discrimination cases to court. The Illinois Senate voted, 59-0, to convict Gov. Rod Blagojevich (blah-GOY'-uh-vich) of abuse of power and throw him out of office nearly two months after the second-term Democrat's arrest on charges of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
• One year ago: BP PLC closed the book on the Justice Department's criminal probe of its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with a U.S. judge agreeing to let the London-based oil giant plead guilty to manslaughter charges for the deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record $4 billion in penalties. The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama's choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, 94-3. (Kerry voted present.) A hostage crisis began in Midland City, Ala., as retired truck driver Jimmy Lee Dykes kidnapped 5-year-old Ethan Gilman off a school bus after killing the driver, Charles Poland; Dykes held the boy inside an underground bunker for six days until authorities moved in, killing Dykes and rescuing the child.
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• Today's Birthdays: Feminist author Germaine Greer is 75. Actress Katharine Ross is 74. Feminist author Robin Morgan is 73. Actor Tom Selleck is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bettye LaVette is 68. Actor Marc Singer is 66. Actress Ann Jillian is 64. Rock musician Tommy Ramone (Ramones) is 62. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 61. Rhythm-and-blues/funk singer Charlie Wilson is 61. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is 60. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 58. Actress Diane Delano is 57. Actress Judy Norton Taylor (TV: "The Waltons") is 56. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato is 55. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis is 54. Rock musician David Baynton-Power (James) is 53. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 53. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 52. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 50. Actor-director Edward Burns is 46. Actress Heather Graham is 44. U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is 44. Actor Sharif Atkins is 39. Actress Sara Gilbert is 39. Actor Justin Hartley is 37. Actor Sam Jaeger is 37. Actor Andrew Keegan is 35. Actor Jason James Richter is 34. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 33. Pop-rock singer Adam Lambert (TV: "American Idol") is 32.
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• Thought for Today: "Any idiot can face a crisis - it's this day-to-day living that wears you out." - Anton Chekhov, Russian author and playwright (born this date in 1860, died in 1904).
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