► Today is Monday, Oct. 26, the 299th day of 2009. There are 66 days left in the year.
► Today’s birthdays: Former Senator Edward Brooke III is 90. Actor Bob Hoskins is 67. Author Pat Conroy is 64. Actress Jaclyn Smith is 64. TV host Pat Sajak is 63. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is 62. Singer Maggie Roche (The Roches) is 58. Musician Bootsy Collins is 58. Actor James Pickens Jr. (“Grey’s Anatomy’’) is 57. Rock musician Keith Strickland (The B-52’s) is 56. Actress Rita Wilson is 53. The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, is 50. Actor Dylan McDermott is 48. Actor Cary Elwes is 47. Singer Natalie Merchant is 46. Country singer Keith Urban is 42. Actor Tom Cavanagh is 41. Writer-producer Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy’’) is 36. Actor Jon Heder is 32. Singer Mark Barry (BBMak) is 31. Olympic silver medal figure skater Sasha Cohen is 25.
► 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 1881, the “Gunfight at the OK Corral’’ took place in Tombstone, Ariz., as Wyatt Earp, his two brothers, and “Doc’’ Holliday confronted Ike Clanton’s gang. Three members of Clanton’s group were killed; Earp’s brothers and Holliday were wounded.
► In 1909, former Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi was assassinated during a visit to Harbin, China, by Korean nationalist An Jung-geun, who was later hanged.
► In 1942, Japanese planes badly damaged the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands during World War II. (The Hornet sank early the next morning.)
► In 1958, Pan American Airways flew its first
► In 1972, national security adviser Henry Kissinger declared that “Peace is at hand’’ in Vietnam.
►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 1984, “Baby Fae,’’ a newborn with a severe heart defect, was given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. (Baby Fae lived 21 days with the animal heart.)
► In 1994, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali of Jordan signed a peace treaty during a ceremony at the Israeli-Jordanian border attended by President Bill Clinton.
► In 2001, President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain, or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.
► In 2004, the FCC gave its approval to Cingular Wireless LLC’s $41 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc. The Red Sox won Game 3 of the World Series in St. Louis, defeating the Cardinals, 4-1.
