Today’s highlights

On Nov. 12, 1954, Ellis Island officially closed as an immigration station and detention center. More than 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States via Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954.

On this date

1927: Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

1936: The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., and gave the green light to traffic.

1948: Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.

1970: The Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The deadliest tropical cyclone on record claimed the lives of an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people.

2001: American Airlines Flight 587, en route to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.

2019: Venice saw its worst flooding in more than 50 years, with the water reaching 6.14 feet above average sea level; damage was estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Today’s birthdays

Actor-playwright Wallace Shawn is 81. Rock musician Booker T. Jones is 80. Sportscaster Al Michaels is 80. Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 79. Actor Ryan Gosling is 44. Actor Anne Hathaway is 42. Golfer Jason Day is 37. NBA point guard Russell Westbrook is 36.