On this date in...

1960...Columbia University professor and quiz-show wiz Charles Van Doren is arrested in New York for lying about his involvement in a cheating scandal on the popular TV show Twenty One.

1966...Twelve firefighters die when the floor of a drug store at 23rd Street and Broadway collapses during a fire. As word spreads of the disaster, nearly 3,000 off-duty firefighters respond to the scene.

1975...Albert Shanker and the teacher's union come through with funds to help save the city from bankruptcy.

Today's New Yorker birthdays include columnist Jimmy Breslin, born in 1930.