UPI Almanac for Thursday, June 22, 2017

Today is Thursday, June 22, the 173rd day of 2017 with 192 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English adventure novelist H. Rider Haggard (King Solomon's Mines, She) in 1856; German novelist Erich Remarque (All Quiet on the Western Front) in 1898; bank robber John Dillinger in 1903; baseball Hall of Fame member Carl Hubbell in 1903; movie director Billy Wilder in 1906; author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of aviator Charles Lindbergh, in 1906; producer Mike Todd in 1909; fashion designer Bill Blass in 1922; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in 1933 (age 84); singer/actor Kris Kristofferson in 1936 (age 81); TV journalist Ed Bradley in 1941; news commentator Brit Hume in 1943 (age 74); writer Octavia Butler in 1947; basketball Hall of Fame member Pete Maravich in 1947; rock musician Todd Rundgren in 1948 (age 69); actor Meryl Streep in 1949 (age 68); actor Lindsay Wagner in 1949 (age 68); actor Graham Greene in 1952 (age 65); pop singer Cyndi Lauper in 1953 (age 64); actor Freddie Prinze in 1954; actor Tracy Pollan in 1960 (age 57); activist Erin Brockovich-Ellis in 1960 (age 57); basketball Hall of Fame member Clyde Drexler in 1962 (age 55); actor Amy Brenneman in 1964 (age 52); writer Dan Brown (The DaVinci Code) in 1964 (age 53); television host Carson Daly in 1973 (age 44).

On this date in history:

In 1918, an empty troop train rear-ended the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train in Ivanhoe, Ind., killing 53 circus performers and many animals. The circus train had stopped to fix its brakes.

In 1940, France fell to Germany in World War II.

In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

In 1965 movie mogul David O. Selznick, producer of Gone With The Wind, died at age 62.

In 1969, show business legend Judy Garland died of what a coroner called an unintentional overdose of sleeping pills. She was 47.

In 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a pledge to try to avoid nuclear war.

In 1977, former U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell entered a federal prison for Watergate crimes. He was released for medical reasons 19 months later.

In 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offered to cede responsibility for security in some West Bank and Gaza Strip areas to the Palestinians.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation authorizing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate content and marketing of tobacco products for adults. It also outlawed cigarette ads in school and playground areas and the sale of flavored cigarettes designed for young people.

In 2011, reputed former Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, indicted in 19 homicides, was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., ending a 16-year manhunt. Bulger was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2012, accused child-molester Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was convicted on 45 sex-abuse charges. He was sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.

In 2013, the fiery crash of a stunt biplane at an air show in Dayton, Ohio, killed wing walker Jane Wicker and pilot Charlie Schwenker. "They were true, ultimate professionals," the show's president said.

In 2014, Michelle Wie won the U.S. Women's Open at Pinehurst, N.C.

A thought for the day: "We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society, for nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism and indifference." -- Joe Biden