The Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar is a fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1925 as a commemorative coin in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It was designed by Chester Beach. Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation introduced legislation in 1924 to authorize a commemorative half dollar for the anniversary. The bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed by President Calvin Coolidge. Beach had to satisfy committees from both Lexington and Concord, and the Commission of Fine Arts passed the design only reluctantly, feeling he had been given poor materials to work with. The coins were sold for $1, and were vended at the anniversary celebrations in Lexington and in Concord; they were sold at banks across New England. Although just over half of the authorized mintage of 300,000 was struck, almost all the coins that were minted were sold. Depending on condition, they are catalogued in the hundreds of dollars. (Full article...)

• ... that the SCO Forum computer conference (pictured) was noted for its redwood-forested setting?
• ... that Neil McLaughlin started boxing 'by mistake' after an argument with his gymnastics coach?
• ... that the female Savannah darter lays clutches of sticky eggs that she buries in gravel or sand?
• ... that the Figuralchor Frankfurt, founded in 1966 as a youth choir for the state broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk, sang Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand at the opening of the Alte Oper concert hall?
• ... that when WFAB radio in Miami was forced off the air in 1977, Hispanic-owned shops in Homestead closed for an hour in protest?
• ... that British neuroscientist Rebeccah Slater led a study that showed that not only do babies experience pain, they may be more sensitive to it than adults?
• ... that Bihar Animal Sciences University is one of four state universities and six private universities established in the Indian state of Bihar in 2017–18?
• ... that Salvatore Pais's design for an electromagnetic field generator to deflect asteroids away from the Earth has been patented by the U.S. Navy?

• In Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said is named the country's new ruler after his cousin Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said(pictured) dies at age 79.
• Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 is shot down shortly after takeoff from Tehran, Iran, killing all 176 people on board.
• After a U.S. airstrike kills Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, at least 56 people die in a stampede during his burial procession in Kerman, and Iranian forces attack two military bases in Iraq.

• 1055 – Theodora Porphyrogenita became sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire after the death of her brother-in-law Constantine IX Monomachos.
• 1693 – The most powerful earthquake in Italian history, registering 7.4 M_w, struck the island of Sicily.
• 1943 – Italian-American journalist and trade-union activist Carlo Tresca, a leading public opponent of the Mafia infiltration of unions, was assassinated in New York City.
• 1986 – The Gateway Bridge(pictured) was opened in Brisbane, Australia, as the largest prestressed concrete, single-box bridge in the world.
• 2013 – French special forces failed in an attempted rescue of a DGSE agent, who had been taken hostage in 2009 by Al-Shabaab, in Buulo Mareer, Somalia.

Vincenzo Borg (b. 1777) ·Eva Le Gallienne (b. 1899) ·Emanuel Lasker (d. 1941)