The almanac

This is Tuesday, April 8, the 98th day of 2014 with 267 to follow.

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. The evening star is Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1726; pioneer neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing in 1869; actor Mary Pickford in 1892; Olympic figure skater/actor Sonja Henie in 1912; former first lady Betty Ford in 1918; comedian Shecky Greene in 1926 (age 88); composer Jacques Brel in 1929; actor and former ambassador to Mexico John Gavin in 1931 (age 83); journalist Seymour Hersh in 1937 (age 77); former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1938 (age 76); basketball Hall of Fame member John Havlicek in 1940 (age 74); choreographer Michael Bennett of "A Chorus Line" fame in 1943; baseball Hall of Fame members Jim "Catfish" Hunter in 1946 and Gary Carter in 1954; rock musician Steve Howe in 1947 (age 67); novelist Barbara Kingsolver in 1955 (age 59); actor/singer John Schneider in 1960 (age 54); musician Julian Lennon in 1963 (age 51); actors Robin Wright in 1966 (age 48), Patricia Arquette in 1968 (age 46) and Taran Noah Smith in 1984 (age 30).

On this date in history:

In 1913, 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, requiring that U.S. senators be "elected by the people."

In 1917, Austria-Hungary, an ally of Germany, severed diplomatic relations with the United States.

In 1935, the U.S. Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, a central part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal."

In 1952, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike.

In 1960, the U.S. Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Bill.

In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's longstanding career record. (Aaron played two more seasons, ending with 755 home runs, a total eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds, who has 762.)

In 1990, Ryan White, who put the face of a child on AIDS, died of complications from the ailment at age 18.

In 1992, former tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.

In 1993, Marian Anderson, the first African-American singer to appear at New York's Metropolitan Opera, died at age 91.

In 1994, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, 27, was found dead in his Seattle home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

In 2004, U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told the 9/11 Commission that a report about a possible plane hijacking received by the White House one month before terrorists struck New York and Washington contained mostly "historical information" and made no specific warning about a U.S. attack.

In 2005, about 250,000 mourners attended a 3-hour funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in Rome's St. Peter's Square while about 1 million others gathered nearby. Among those in attendance were U.S. President George W. Bush and about 100 other world leaders.

In 2011, with less than 2 hours to spare, U.S. President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders reached agreement on a federal budget, narrowly averting a government shutdown.

In 2012, a church in Makurdi, Nigeria collapsed during Easter mass, killing 22 people.

In 2013, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis appointed eight cardinals to look into ways of reforming the Roman Catholic Church.

A thought for the day: "April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." -- William Shakespeare