Today is Wednesday, December 31st, the 366th and last day of 2025. It's New Year's Eve.
Today in history:
On December 31, 1972, 38-year-old baseball player Roberto Clemente was killed when the plane he was chartering and flying crashed shortly after takeoff from Puerto Rico while carrying humanitarian aid for earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.
Also on this day:
In 1879, Thomas Edison demonstrated his incandescent electric light bulbs to the public for the first time, lighting about 100 light bulbs in and around his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
In 1904, the first New Year's Eve celebration took place in Times Square in New York City, attended by approximately 200,000 people.
In 1985, 45-year-old singer Rick Nelson and six others died in a fire on board a plane taking the band to a New Year's Eve performance in Dallas.
In 1995, the syndicated comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson, came to an end after a 10-year run.
In 1999, Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned, appointing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting president.
In 2019, the health commission in the central Chinese city of Wuhan announced that experts were investigating an outbreak of the respiratory disease and that most of the victims had visited a seafood market in the city; The statement said 27 people fell ill with a strain of viral pneumonia that would eventually become known as COVID-19.
In 2022, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died at the age of 95, becoming the first pontiff to step down as pope in 600 years.
In 2024, a power outage hit nearly all of Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year's, leaving more than 1.3 million people in the dark. The private utility company said more than 700,000 customers had their lights back on by the evening.
Today's birthdays: actor Anthony Hopkins – 88. Rock musician Andy Summers (“Police”) – 83. Actor Ben Kingsley – 82. Director Taylor Hackford – 81. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg – 79. Actor Tim Matheson – 78. Actor Bebe Neuwirth – 67. Actor Gong Li – 60. Writer Nicholas Sparks is 60. Businessman Donald Trump Jr. is 48 years old. Singer-rapper PSY is 48 years old. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri is 46 years old. Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Gabby Douglas is 30 years old. Actor Hunter Schafer is 27 years old.
