Today is Saturday, Oct. 10, the 283rd day of 2009. There are 82 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 10, 1913, the Panama Canal was effectively completed as President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph, setting off explosives that destroyed a section of the Gamboa dike.

On this date:

• In 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy was established in Annapolis, Md.

• In 1935, George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess” opened on Broadway.

• In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion, and resigned his office.

• In 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill authorizing the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Ten years ago: Six college students getting out of their cars or walking along a highway on their way to a fraternity party at Texas A&M University were struck and killed by a pickup truck whose driver had fallen asleep.

Today’s Birthdays: Former Illinois Sen. Adlai Stevenson III is 79. Actor Peter Coyote is 68. Entertainer Ben Vereen is 63. Singer John Prine is 63. Actor Charles Dance is 63. Author Nora Roberts (aka “J.D. Robb”) is 59. Singer-musician Midge Ure is 56. Rock singer David Lee Roth (Van Halen) is 55. Country singer Tanya Tucker is 51. Actress Julia Sweeney is 50. Actor Bradley Whitford is 50. Musician Martin Kemp is 48. Rock musician Jim Glennie (James) is 46. Actress Rebecca Pidgeon is 44. Rock musician Mike Malinin (Goo Goo Dolls) is 42. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is 40. Actress Wendi McLendon-Covey is 40. Actor Mario Lopez is 36. Actress Jodi Lyn O’Keefe is 31.

Thought for Today: “The imperceptible process of age has a point which, once passed, cannot be retraced. I knew I had passed that point and was getting old the day I noticed that all the cops looked so young.”—Harry Lewis Golden, American author, editor and publisher (1903-1981).