Advertisement

UPI Almanac for Sunday, April 19, 2015

Tragic end to Branch Davidian standoff, the Oklahoma City bombing, a new pope is chosen, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect dead, another captured ... on this date in history.

By United Press International
U.S. Bureau of Prisons officers patrol outside of the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind., June 11, 2001, the day Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed in the institution. McVeigh was convicted in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City April 19, 1995. File Photo by Mark Cowan/UPI
1 of 9 | U.S. Bureau of Prisons officers patrol outside of the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind., June 11, 2001, the day Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed in the institution. McVeigh was convicted in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City April 19, 1995. File Photo by Mark Cowan/UPI | License Photo

Today is Sunday, April 19, the 109th day of 2015 with 256 to follow.

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

Advertisement


Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include statesman Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, in 1721; music patron Augustus Juilliard in 1836; U.S. federal agent Eliot Ness, head of the "untouchables" team that brought down Al Capone, in 1903; actor Hugh O'Brian in 1925 (age 90); actor Dick Sargent in 1930; actorJayne Mansfield in 1933; actor Dudley Moore in 1935; actor Elinor Donahue in 1937 (age 78); actor Tim Curry in 1946 (age 69); auto racer Al Unser Jr. in 1962 (age 53); record producer Suge Knight in 1965 (age 50); actor Ashley Judd in 1968 (age 49); singer Dar Williams in 1967 (age 48); television personality Jesse James in 1969 (age 46); actor James Franco in 1978 (age 37); actor Kate Hudson in 1979 (age 36); actor Hayden Christensen in 1981 (age 34); tennis player Maria Sharapova in 1987 (age 28).

Advertisement


On this date in history:

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington, Mass. Eight Minutemen were killed and 10 wounded in an exchange of musket fire with British Redcoats.

In 1943, Jewish residents of the Warsaw ghetto revolted when Germans tried to resume deportations to the Treblinka concentration camp. (When the uprising ended on May 16, 7,000 Jews and 300 Germans had died and the ghetto lay in ruins.)

In 1956, U.S. actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

In 1971, the Soviet Union launched its first Salyut space station.

In 1987, the first "Simpsons" cartoon appeared on "The Tracey Ullman Show."

In 1989, an explosion in a gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa killed 47 sailors.

In 1993, a 51-day Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed a fortified compound after it was tear-gassed by authorities. Cult leader David Koresh and about 75 followers, including 17 children, were killed.

In 1994, a federal jury awarded police-beating victim Rodney King $3.8 million in compensatory damages from the city of Los Angeles.

In 1995, a bomb exploded outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring several hundred others.

Advertisement

In 2000, a federal appeals court ruled in a high-profile case that 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez could stay in the United States until judges heard a full appeal from his relatives who sought to retain custody of the boy. (Eventually, he was returned to his father in Cuba.)

In 2005, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, already a major power in the Roman Catholic Church, was elected pope to succeed John Paul II. He chose the name of Benedict XVI.

In 2011, an air traffic control error was blamed for a "near miss" incident at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington in which a plane carrying first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, flew too close to a military cargo aircraft while landing.

In 2012, Syria, torn by a yearlong insurgency, agreed to accept a 30-person team of U.N. observers.

In 2013, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was killed by police another, his brother, was arrested. The city had been in a virtual lockdown.

In 2014, French President Francois Hollande expressed "immense relief"that four French journalists held hostage in Syria for 10 months had been freed "in good health despite the very challenging conditions of their captivity."

Advertisement


A thought for the day: "If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person's point of view and see things from that person's angle as well as from your own." -- Henry Ford

Latest Headlines