UPI Almanac for Saturday, April 29, 2017

Today is Saturday, April 29, the 119th day of 2017 with 246 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1863; bandleader and composer Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington in 1899; Japanese Emperor Hirohito in 1901; actor Celeste Holm in 1917; pro football Coach George Allen in 1918; British skiffle group leader Lonnie Donegan in 1931; poet Rod McKuen in 1933; baseball Hall of Fame member Luis Aparicio in 1934 (age 83); conductor Zubin Mehta in 1936 (age 81); financier/Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff in 1938 (age 79); musician Tommy James in 1947 (age 70); long-distance runner/former U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., in 1947 (age 70); golfer/TV analyst Johnny Miller in 1947 (age 70); auto racer Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 1951; comedian Nora Dunn in 1952 (age 65); comedian/actor/producer Jerry Seinfeld in 1954 (age 63); actor Kate Mulgrew in 1955 (age 62), actor Daniel Day-Lewis in 1957 (age 60); actor Michelle Pfeiffer in 1958 (age 59); actor Eve Plumb in 1958 (age 59); actor Uma Thurman in 1970 (age 47); tennis player Andre Agassi in 1970 (age 47); tennis doubles specialists Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (twin brothers) in 1978 (age 39).

On this date in history:

In 1864, Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania, the first college founded solely for African-American students, was officially chartered.

In 1885, women were admitted for the first time to examinations at England's Oxford University.

In 1913, Gideon Sundbach of Hoboken, N.J., was issued a patent for the zipper.

In 1945, troops of the U.S. Seventh Army liberated 32,000 prisoners at the Nazi regime's Dachau concentration camp near Munich, Germany.

In 1975, helicopters evacuated hundreds of American civilians and military support personnel, and thousands of South Vietnamese from Saigon -- the day before the North Vietnamese overran the city.

In 1985, four gunmen escaped with nearly $8 million in cash stolen from the Wells Fargo armored car company in New York.

In 1986, an arson fire destroyed more than 1 million books in the Los Angeles Central Library.

In 1988, the first condor conceived in captivity was born at San Diego Wild Animal Park.

In 1992, rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, Calif., acquitted four white police officers of nearly all charges in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Fifty-three people died in three days of protest and violence.

In 2004, the final Oldsmobile was manufactured. The brand had been in existence for 107 years.

In 2009, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, winding up his fifth term as a Republican stalwart, announced he would seek re-election in 2010 as a Democrat, switching parties because he found himself "increasingly at odds" with the Republican Party.

In 2010, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced a policy change that allows women to serve on submarines.

In 2011, British Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, and college sweetheart Kate Middleton, the new duchess of Cambridge, exchanged wedding rings and vows in a regal ceremony at Westminster Abbey before an estimated worldwide audience of 2 billion people.

In 2013, Jason Collins of the NBA became the first active player in a North American major sports league to announce he is gay.

In 2014, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced a lifetime ban for Donald Sterling for racist comments the league said the Los Angeles Clippers owner made in a recorded conversation. Sterling was also fined $2.5 million.

A thought for the day: "When free discussion is denied, hardening of the arteries of democracy has set in, free institutions are but a lifeless form and the death of the republic is at hand." -- William Randolph Hearst