The almanac

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 2, the 275th day of 2013 with 90 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars and Uranus. Evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include England's King Richard III in 1452; Nat Turner, a black slave and leader of the only effective and sustained U.S. slave revolt, in 1800; German statesman Paul von Hindenburg in 1847; French World War I military commander Ferdinand Foch in 1851; Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi, in 1869; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Cordell Hull in 1871; comedians Julius "Groucho" Marx in 1890 and Bud Abbott in 1895; British writer Graham Greene in 1904; child actor George "Spanky" McFarland of "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" fame, in 1928; movie critic Rex Reed in 1938 (age 75); pop singer Don McLean in 1945 (age 68); actor Avery Brooks and fashion designer Donna Karan, both in 1948 (age 65); photographer Annie Leibovitz in 1949 (age 64); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Sting (Gordon Sumner) in 1951 (age 62); and actor Lorraine Bracco in 1954 (age 59) and TV personality Kelly Ripa in 1970 (age 43).

On this date in history:

In 1780, British spy Maj. John Andre was convicted in connection with Benedict Arnold's treason and hanged in Tappan, N.Y.

In 1950, the "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles M. Schulz was published for the first time.

In 1959, "The Twilight Zone," with host Rod Serling, premiered on U.S. television.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1969, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned after admitting he had made a financial deal with the Louis Wolfson Foundation.

In 1970, a plane crash in Colorado killed 31 people, including members of the Wichita State University football team.

In 1984, Richard Miller became the first FBI agent to be charged with espionage. He was convicted of passing government secrets to the Soviet Union through his Russian lover.

In 1985, actor Rock Hudson died of AIDS. He was 59 years old.

In 2001, NATO said the United States had shown evidence, sufficient to justify military action, that Osama bin Laden and his organization were responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In 2002, a 55-year-old Maryland man was slain in the first in a series of apparent random sniper attacks that terrorized the Washington area for three weeks.

In 2005, Connecticut issued its first licenses for "civil unions," becoming the third state (after California and Massachusetts) to offer same-sex couples a legal way to unite.

In 2006, five Amish girls were fatally wounded in a series of shootings in a rural, one-room schoolhouse in Nickle Mines, Pa. The suspect, a milk truck driver who also killed himself, had told his wife he needed to avenge something that had happened 20 years ago.

In 2009, Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Olympic Games, the first South American city to host the event, beating out Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago.

In 2012, Pennsylvanians can vote in November without having to show a photo identification card, a judge ruled in a challenge to the state's controversial voter ID law.

A thought for the day: "The British Constitution has always been puzzling and always will be." -- Queen Elizabeth II