JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL is an award winning television journalist and author. She currently has her own show on HLN, Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell. She is often seen commenting on high-profile cases for CNN, TruTV, E! and other national cable TV shows. Velez-Mitchell frequently guest hosts for Nancy Grace on her Headline News show. Velez-Mitchell reported for the nationally syndicated Warner Brothers/Telepictures show Celebrity Justice.

Velez-Mitchell authored the non-fiction book, Secrets Can Be Murder: What America’s Most Sensational Crimes Tell Us About Ourselves, which delves into the secrets unearthed in more than twenty of the most widely covered murder cases of recent times. The book's premise is that, by studying the secrecy and deceit embedded in these tragic scenarios, we can learn to opt for honesty in our own lives and avoid similar outcomes.

In September 2009, Velez-Mitchell released her memoir on addiction recovery titled iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life. "iWant" became a New York Times Best Seller.  In addition to being one of the few openly gay journalists on television, she also has dedicated her time and resources to various charitable and humane causes. She is well known for her animal rights advocacy, is a vegan and an environmentalist. While working at Celebrity Justice, Velez-Mitchell’s reporting on animal cruelty earned that show two Genesis Awards from the Humane Society of the United States. She earned an additional Genesis Award for her show "Issues" in 2010. In January 2010, she was awarded the Ruby Award by Soroptimist International for her "War on Women" coverage on her television show.

ANN BANCROFT, the first woman to trek to both the North and the South Pole was born on this date. Bancroft grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She described her family as one of risk takers. It is reported that she struggled with a learning disabiity, but nevertheless graduated from St. Paul Academy and Summit School.Bancroft became a wilderness instructor and a gym teacher in Minnesota (at Clara Barton Open School) and St. Paul.

She gave up her teaching post in 1986 in order to participate with the "Will Steger International North Pole Expedition". She arrived at the Pole together with five other team members after fifty-six days using dogsleds. This made Bancroft the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot and by sled.

She was also the first woman to cross both polar ice caps to reach the North and South Poles, as well as the first woman to ski across Greenland. In 1993 Bancroft led a four-woman expedition to the South Pole on skis; this expedition was the first all-female expedition to cross the ice to the South Pole. In 2001, Ann and Norwegian adventurer Liv Arnesen became the first women to ski across Antarctica.

Her achievements led to her induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame for the United States.

She currently co-owns an exploration company, Bancroft Arnesen Explore, with Liv Arnesen. In March 2007, Bancroft and Arnesen were taking part in a trek across the Arctic Ocean to draw attention to the problem of global warming. However, according to The Washington Post, the expedition was called off "after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment."

Bancroft also received a number of other awards and honors. She is out Gay and in 2006, she publicly campaigned against a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution to prohibit any legal recognition of marriages equality.

YOM KIPPUR begins tonight at sundown this year. It is known as the Day of Atonement, and is the holiest day of the year for Jewish people. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jewish people traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue.