{"id":7612,"date":"2026-08-24T08:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7612"},"modified":"2026-08-24T08:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T08:06:18","slug":"today-in-history-august-24-pluto-demoted-to-dwarf-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7612","title":{"rendered":"Today in History: August 24, Pluto demoted to dwarf planet"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Today is Monday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2026. There are 129 days left in the year.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7610\">Train Day pulling in to Los Altos History Museum on Aug. 30<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Today in history:<\/h4>\n<p>On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a \u201cdwarf planet.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Also on this date:<\/h4>\n<p>In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the still-under-construction Capitol and the White House, as well as other public buildings.<\/p>\n<p>In 1912, Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory.<\/p>\n<p>In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.<\/p>\n<p>In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.<\/p>\n<p>In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon; he has repeatedly been denied parole.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (juh-MAH\u2019-tee) banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7608\">Cupertino\u2019s Safe Routes to School program to hold Aug. 29 bike workshops<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 1991, in response to a coup attempt by hard-line Communist leaders attempting to reassert control over the Soviet Union, Ukrainian parliamentarians voted to approve a Declaration of Independence for the state of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>In 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida; the storm resulted in 65 deaths and caused more than $26 billion in damage across Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for twin attacks on July 22, 2011, that killed 77 people; he received a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended as long as he is considered dangerous to society.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 2018, the family of Arizona Sen. John McCain announced that he had discontinued medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer; McCain died the following day.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, police in Aurora, Colorado, responding to a report of a suspicious person, used a chokehold to subdue Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man; he went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital and was later taken off life support and died.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7606\">Friends of the Milpitas Library 4-day sale set for next month<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Today\u2019s Birthdays:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Composer-musician Mason Williams is 88.<\/li>\n<li>R&amp;B singer Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) is 84.<\/li>\n<li>WWE co-founder Vince McMahon is 81.<\/li>\n<li>Author Paulo Coelho is 79.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Anne Archer is 79.<\/li>\n<li>Author Alexander McCall Smith is 78.<\/li>\n<li>Composer Jean-Michel Jarre is 78.<\/li>\n<li>Author Orson Scott Card is 75.<\/li>\n<li>Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is 74.<\/li>\n<li>Actor-writer Stephen Fry is 69.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Steve Guttenberg is 68.<\/li>\n<li>Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is 66.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Jared Harris is 65.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Marlee Matlin is 61.<\/li>\n<li>Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller is 61.<\/li>\n<li>Film director Ava DuVernay is 54.<\/li>\n<li>Actor-comedian Dave Chappelle is 53.<\/li>\n<li>Actor James D\u2019Arcy is 52.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Alex O\u2019Loughlin is 50.<\/li>\n<li>Author John Green is 49.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Chad Michael Murray is 45.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Rupert Grint is 38.<\/li>\n<li>Basketball player Kelsey Plum is 32.<\/li>\n<li>Actor Griffin Gluck is 26.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a \u201cdwarf planet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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