Today is Saturday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2010. There are 62 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 30, 1938, the radio play "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. (The live drama, which employed fake breaking news reports, panicked some listeners who thought the portrayal of a Martian invasion was real.)

On this date:

In 1735, the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Mass.

In 1885, poet Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho.

In 1893, the U.S. Senate gave final congressional approval to repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.

In 1944, the Martha Graham ballet "Appalachian Spring," with music by Aaron Copland, premiered at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with Graham in a leading role.

In 1945, the U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing, effective at midnight.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at about 50 megatons. The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb.

In 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire (zah-EER'), known as the "Rumble in the Jungle" to regain his world heavyweight title.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter announced his choice of federal appeals judge Shirley Hufstedler to head the newly created Department of Education.

In 1984, police in Poland found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerzy Popieluszko (YEHR'-zee pah-pee-WOOSH'-goh), whose death was blamed on security officers.

In 1985, schoolteacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe witnessed the launch of the space shuttle Challenger, the same craft that carried her and six other crew members to their deaths in Jan. 1986.

Ten years ago: Comedian, television host, author and composer Steve Allen died in Encino, Calif. at age 78. Continued...