UPI Almanac for Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Today is Wednesday, June 29, the 181st day of 2016 with 185 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include William Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in 1861; astronomer George Ellery Hale, founder of the Yerkes and Mount Palomar observatories, in 1868; French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery in 1900; actor/singer Nelson Eddy in 1901; composer/arranger Leroy Anderson in 1908; Broadway songwriter Frank Loesser in 1910; composer/conductor Bernard Herrmann in 1911; actor Slim Pickens in 1919; baseball Hall of Fame member Harmon Killebrew in 1936; "black power" advocate Stokely Carmichael in 1941; singer Little Eva -- Eva Narcissus Boyd -- in 1943; actor Gary Busey in 1944 (age 72); Swiss fashion designer Egon von Furstenberg in 1946; comedian Richard Lewis in 1947 (age 69); actor/former U.S. Rep. Fred Grandy, R-Iowa, in 1948 (age 68); actor Sharon Lawrence in 1961 (age 55); musician/actor Bret McKenzie in 1976 (age 40).

On this date in history:

In 1853, the U.S. Senate ratified the $10 million Gadsden Purchase from Mexico, adding more than 29,000 square miles to the territories of Arizona and New Mexico and completing the modern geographical boundaries of the contiguous 48 states.

In 1933, Fatty Arbuckle, silent film comedian and one of Hollywood's most beloved personalities until a manslaughter charge (he was eventually acquitted) ruined his career, died while preparing a comeback. He was 46.

In 1941, Isabella Peron took office as president of Argentina, succeeding her husband.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment, as then administered by individual states, was unconstitutional.

In 1992, doctors in Pittsburgh reported the world's first transplant of a baboon liver into a human patient. The recipient, a 35-year-old man, survived three months.

In 1995, the U.S. shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir for the first time. NASA's chief said the docking marked "a new era of friendship and cooperation" between the two countries.

In 2003, Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn died at the age of 96 after a six-decade career in which she won four Oscars in the Best Actress category.

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled U.S. President George W. Bush didn't have authority, under military law or the Geneva Conventions, to set up military tribunals for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In 2009, Bernard Madoff, mastermind of a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 150 years in prison. The federal judge who imposed the sentence in New York City said Madoff's crimes were "extraordinarily evil." Madoff apologized in the courtroom, saying, "I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain."

In 2010, Rodolfo Torre, the leading candidate for governor in the violence-torn Mexican state of Tamaulipas, and four others were ambushed and killed.

In 2011, Greek lawmakers approved some of the toughest economic measures in the nation's modern history in a five-year austerity plan that included tax increases and job cuts. Observers said the severe budget could be critical to the future of the euro.

In 2012, thousands of people at a rally in Cairo demanded that the military transfer full power to new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who told the crowd, "There is no power above people power." Morsi was ousted by the military just over a year later.

In 2013, temperatures of 119 in Phoenix and 115 in Las Vegas sent dozens of people to hospitals. Death Valley, Calif., had a high of 127.

In 2014, Emmy-winning actor Meshach Taylor, who starred in "Designing Women"and "Dave's World"and had numerous other film and TV roles, died of cancer at his home near Los Angeles. He was 67.

A thought for the day: "Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live." -- Oscar Wilde