The Almanac

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 28, the 240th day of 2002 with 125 to follow.

The moon is waning.

The morning stars are Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

The evening stars are Mercury and Venus, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo.

They include German poet, novelist and dramatist Johann von Goethe in 1749; Elizabeth Ann Seton, first U.S.-born saint of the Roman Catholic Church, in 1774; actor Charles Boyer in 1899; psychologist Bruno Bettelheim in 1903; actor/dancer Donald O'Connor in 1925 (age 77); actor Ben Gazzara in 1930 (age 72); actor "Pat" Morita in 1932 (age 70); former U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen in 1940 (age 62); singer/actor David Soul in 1943 (age 59); actor Daniel Stern in 1957 (age 45); ice skater Scott Hamilton in 1958 (age 44); actors Emma Samms in 1960 (age 42) and Jason Priestley in 1969 (age 33); and country singers Shania Twain in 1965 (age 37) and LeAnn Rimes in 1982 (age 20).

On this date in history: In 1922, a New York City realty company paid $100 for the first radio commercial, on station WEAF.

While visiting family in Money, Miss., 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, was brutally slain on this date in 1955 for flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His alleged killers later were acquitted.

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before more than 200,000 persons gathered for the "Freedom March" in Washington.

In 1968, the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey for president as thousands of anti-Vietnam war demonstrators battled police in the streets and parks of Chicago.

In 1986, Soviet spy Jerry Whitworth was sentenced in San Francisco to 365 years in prison and fined $410,000.

In 1988, more than 50 people were killed in the Philippines in an unsuccessful coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino.

In 1990, at least 27 people were killed and more than 350 injured when a tornado struck Will County, Ill., southwest of Chicago.

Also in 1990, a fourth and fifth college student victims of an apparent serial killer were found near the University of Florida at Gainesville.

In 1992, federal relief got under way for the South Florida victims of Hurricane Andrew with the arrival giant C-5A military transport at devastated Homestead Air Force Base.

Also in 1992, veteran Rep. Nicholas Mavroules, D-Mass., pleaded innocent to federal charges of racketeering, tax evasion and accepting bribes. In 1994, a supporter of exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was shot to death in Port-au-Prince.

In 1996, President Clinton was renominated as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

Also in 1996, after four years of separation, Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana, were formally divorced.

In 1997, Proposition 209, California's controversial anti-affirmative action measure approved by the state's voters a year earlier, officially took effect.

A thought for the day: author Salman Rushdie said, "Literature is the one place in any society where, within the secrecy of our own heads, we can hear voices talking about everything in every possible way."