Tuesday, Sept. 11, is the 255th day of 2012. There are 111 days left in the year. This is Patriot Day.

Today’s birthdays: Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) is 88. Director Brian De Palma is 72. Rock musician Mickey Hart (The Dead) is 69. Sports reporter Lesley Visser is 59. Singer-songwriter Diane Warren is 56. Actress Virginia Madsen is 51. Musician-composer Moby is 47. Singer Harry Connick Jr. is 45. Actress Taraji P. Henson is 42. Rapper Ludacris is 35.

In 1814, an American fleet scored a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

In 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed as 19 Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger jetliners. Two planes smashed into New York’s World Trade Center, causing the twin towers to fall; one plowed into the Pentagon; the fourth was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.