It’s Friday, Sept. 6, the 249th day of 2013. There are 116 days left in the year.

Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 66. Country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller is 61. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 55. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 51. ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 51. Actress Rosie Perez is 49. Rhythm and blues singer Macy Gray is 46. Rock singer Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries) is 42. Actor Dylan Bruno is 41. Actor Idris Elba is 41. Rapper Foxy Brown is 35.

— From wire reports

Highlight: In 1901, President William McKinley was shot and mortally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y. (McKinley died eight days later; Czolgosz was executed on Oct. 29.)

In 1861, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah, Ky., during the Civil War.

In 1888, diplomat and financier Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. was born in Boston.

In 1916, the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, was opened in Memphis, Tenn., by Clarence Saunders.

In 1939, the Union of South Africa declared war on Germany.

In 1943, 79 people were killed when a New York-bound Pennsylvania Railroad train derailed and crashed in Philadelphia.

In 1952, Canadian television broadcasting began in Montreal.

In 1966, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by an apparently deranged page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.

In 1970, Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three U.S.-bound jetliners. (Two were later blown up on the ground in Jordan; the third plane was destroyed on the ground in Egypt. No hostages were harmed.)

In 1985, all 31 people aboard a Midwest Express Airlines DC-9 were killed when the Atlanta-bound jetliner crashed just after takeoff from Milwaukee’s Mitchell Field.

In 1991, the Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Russian lawmakers upheld a decision by residents of Leningrad to restore the city’s pre-revolutionary name, St. Petersburg.

In 1997, a public funeral was held for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey in London, six days after her death in a car crash in Paris.

In 2002, meeting outside Washington, D.C. for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of September 11.

Ten years ago: In the U.S. Open, Justine Henin-Hardenne won the all-Belgian women’s singles final, beating fellow countrywoman Kim Clijsters, 7-5, 6-1.

Five years ago: More than 100 people died in a rockslide that crashed into a shantytown just outside Cairo, Egypt. Actress Anita Page died in Los Angeles at age 98.

One year ago: President Barack Obama conceded only halting progress toward solving the nation’s economic woes, but vowed in a Democratic National Convention finale, “Our problems can be solved, our challenges can be met.”