The almanac

Today is Friday, June 28, the 179th day of 2013 with 186 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English King Henry VIII in 1491; Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens in 1577; English clergyman John Wesley, founder of Methodism, in 1703; French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1712; French physician Paul Broca in 1824; Italian author Luigi Pirandello in 1867; composer Richard Rodgers in 1902; British spy novelist Eric Ambler in 1909; filmmaker and comedian Mel Brooks in 1926 (age 87); actor Pat Morita in 1932; former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in 1938 (age 75); comedian Gilda Radner in 1946; actors Kathy Bates in 1948 (age 65) and Alice Krige in 1954 (age 59); football Hall of Fame member John Elway in 1960 (age 53); actors John Cusack and Mary Stuart Masterson, both in 1966 (age 47) and Felicia Day in 1979 (age 34); and actor/singer Danielle Brisebois in 1969 (age 44).

On this date in history:

In 1778, the Continental Army under command of Gen. George Washington defeated the British at Monmouth, N.J.

In 1838, Victoria was crowned queen of England. She would rule for 63 years, 7 months.

In 1914, Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, an act considered to have ignited World War I.

In 1919, World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1969, the clientele of a New York City gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, rioted after it was raided by police. The event is considered the start of the gay liberation movement.

In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of public funds for parochial schools was unconstitutional.

In 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon announced that no more draftees would be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteered for service in the Asian nation.

In 1984, Israel and Syria exchanged prisoners for the first time in 10 years; 291 Syrian soldiers were traded for three Israelis.

In 1997, Mike Tyson bit off a piece of one of heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield's ears during a title fight in Las Vegas.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America had a constitutional right to exclude gay members.

In 2003, people eager to block telemarketing calls overwhelmed a government website that began accepting phone numbers at the National Do Not Call Registry. The Federal Trade Commission said 735,000 numbers were registered the first day.

In 2004, the U.S.-led coalition formally transferred political power in Iraq to an interim government that would run the country until elections were held.

In 2008, the Presbyterian Church voted to amend its constitution to allow openly gay and lesbian clergy.

In 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, rousted out of bed in the middle of the night by soldiers, was forced from office and into exile in Costa Rica in the culmination of a bitter power struggle over proposed constitutional changes.

In 2010, U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., died in a Virginia hospital at age 92. Byrd was in the U.S. House from 1953-59 before moving to the Senate, where he served from 1959-2010 -- a total of nearly 57 years in Congress.

In 2011, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on charges of crimes against humanity.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the new healthcare law known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

A thought for the day: Bertolt Brecht wrote, "What is robbing a bank compared to founding one?"