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UPI Almanac for Thursday, June 17, 2021

On June 17, 1991, a coroner in Kentucky exhumed the remains of the 12th U.S. president, Zachary Taylor, to prove or disprove rumors he was killed by arsenic poisoning. The testing proved he wasn't.

By United Press International
On June 17, 1991, a coroner in Kentucky exhumed the remains of President Zachary Taylor to prove or disprove rumors he was killed by arsenic poisoning. Image courtesy of the Cornell University Library
1 of 4 | On June 17, 1991, a coroner in Kentucky exhumed the remains of President Zachary Taylor to prove or disprove rumors he was killed by arsenic poisoning. Image courtesy of the Cornell University Library

Today is Thursday, June 17, the 168th day of 2021 with 197 to follow.

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

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include British clergyman John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1703; John Robert Gregg, inventor of the Gregg shorthand system, in 1867; Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky in 1882; Dutch artist M.C. Escher in 1898; author John Hersey in 1914; director Ken Loach in 1936 (age 85); Egyptian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei in 1942 (age 79); former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1943 (age 78); singer Barry Manilow in 1943 (age 78); musician/songwriter George S. Clinton in 1947 (age 74); comedian Joe Piscopo in 1951 (age 70); actor Mark Linn-Baker in 1954 (age 67); actor Thomas Haden Church in 1960 (age 61); actor Greg Kinnear in 1963 (age 58); Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen in 1965 (age 56); actor Jason Patric in 1966 (age 55); fashion designer Tory Burch in 1966 (age 55); actor Will Forte in 1970 (age 51); singer Paulina Rubio in 1971 (age 50); tennis star Venus Williams in 1980 (age 41); actor Jodie Whittaker in 1982 (age 39); actor Arthur Darvill in 1982 (age 39); Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar in 1987 (age 34); actor KJ Apa in 1997 (age 24).

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On this date in history:

In 1885, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States, arrived in New York Harbor.

In 1967, China announced it successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

In 1972, the Watergate scandal began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.

In 1982, Argentina's President Leopoldo Galtieri resigned in response to Britain's victory in the Falkland Islands war.

In 1991, a coroner in Kentucky exhumed the remains of the 12th U.S. president, Zachary Taylor, to prove or disprove rumors he was killed by arsenic poisoning. The testing proved he wasn't.

In 1994, former NFL player O.J. Simpson led California Highway Patrol on a low-speed chase in his white Bronco. The 90-minute televised chase occurred shortly after he was charged for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

In 2011, Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon and co-founder of al-Qaida, moved up to assume leadership of the terrorist network six weeks after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden.

In 2015, Dylann Roof killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in a mass shooting. He was sentenced to death in January 2017.

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In 2017, the USS Fitzgerald Navy destroyer collided with a container ship in the Pacific off the coast of Japan, killing seven U.S. sailors.

In 2019, Mohamed Morsi, who became Egypt's first democratically elected president shortly after the Arab Spring only to be deposed a year later, fainted and died during his trial on espionage charges.

In 2020, former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe was charged with murder for the death of Rayshard Brooks outside a Wendy's restaurant.


A thought for the day: "To make peace, one must be an uncompromising leader. To make peace, one must also embody compromise." -- former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

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