UPI Almanac for Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Today is Wednesday, July 24, the 205th day of 2019 with 160 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Leo. They include South American revolutionary/statesman Simon Bolivar in 1783; French novelist Alexandre Dumas the Elder in 1802; British poet/author Robert Graves in 1895; aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1897; actor Chief Dan George in 1899; artist Zelda Fitzgerald in 1900; feminist/former U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug, D-N.Y., in 1920; political cartoonist Pat Oliphant in 1935 (age 84); comedian Gallagher, born Leo Gallagher Jr., in 1946 (age 73); actor Lynda Carter in 1951 (age 68); basketball Hall of Fame member Karl Malone in 1963 (age 56); former baseball player Barry Bonds in 1964 (age 55); actor/singer Kristin Chenoweth in 1968 (age 51); actor/singer Jennifer Lopez in 1969 (age 50); actor Rose Byrne in 1979 (age 40); actor Summer Glau in 1981 (age 38); actor Anna Paquin in 1982 (age 37); actor Mara Wilson in 1987 (age 32); Australian television host Bindi Irwin in 1998 (age 21).

On this date in history:

In 1679, New Hampshire became a royal colony of the British crown.

In 1847, after 17 months and many miles of travel, Brigham Young led 148 Mormon pioneers into Utah's Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

In 1956, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed together for the last time on stage at the Copacabana in New York City. In his 2005 memoir, Lewis described his former partner as one of the greatest comedic talents of all time.

In 1969, Apollo 11 returned to Earth, ending its historic moon-landing mission. After the spacecraft's splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were flown by helicopter to the recovery ship USS Hornet.

In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Richard Nixon should surrender White House tapes for the criminal trials of his former associates.

In 1983, George Brett of the Kansas City Royals had a home run nullified in the "Pine Tar Incident" after New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin had Brett's bat examined by umpires. The Royals filed a protest and the home run was later reinstated.

In 1998, a gunman opened fire at the Capitol in Washington, killing two police officers and wounding a tourist. Police shot the gunman, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., who survived. He was later charged with murder and has been confined to a psychiatric institution.

In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives expelled Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, by a vote of 420-1. Traficant, who had been convicted of racketeering, bribery and corruption, served seven years in prison.

In 2005, Lance Armstrong won a record seventh consecutive Tour de France. All seven wins were voided in 2012 after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency concluded he had used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.

In 2009, an increase in the federal minimum wage, from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour, went into effect. Representatives of small businesses said the increase would threaten their survival.

In 2011, hundreds of gay couples in formal suits and gowns, and T-shirts recited vows after New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex weddings.

In 2014, an Air Algerie plane carrying 118 people dropped from radar en route to Algiers from Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African country of Burkina Faso, and crashed in Mali. There were no survivors.

In 2018, Greek officials said at least 74 people had been killed by wildfires sweeping through a resort town near Athens.

A thought for the day: Neil Armstrong said the Apollo missions demonstrated that "humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that, and our opportunities are unlimited."