Flashback

Today is Saturday, July 2, the 183rd day of 2005. There are 182 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history: On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that “these United Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States.”

Ten years ago: In Denver, representatives of 34 countries ended an economic summit by endorsing an open-market zone throughout the Western Hemisphere – excluding Cuba.

Five years ago: Opposition candidate Vicente Fox won Mexico’s presidential elections, ending the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 71-year reign. France beat Italy 2-1 in the European Championship soccer final in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

One year ago: Legendary film and stage actor Marlon Brando died in Los Angeles at age 80. A man described by police as a disgruntled employee went on a shooting rampage inside a meatpacking plant in Kansas City, Kan., killing four of his co-workers before taking his own life.

On this date:

In 1881, President Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Washington railroad station; Garfield died the following September.

In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act.

In 1926, the United States Army Air Corps was created.

In 1937, aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.

In 1955, “The Lawrence Welk Show” premiered on ABC television.

In 1961, author Ernest Hemingway shot himself to death at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.

In 1964, President Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill passed by Congress.

In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.

In 1994, a U.S. Air DC-9 crashed in poor weather at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, killing 37 of the 57 people aboard.

In 2002, American adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world as he returned to western Australia.