UPI Almanac for Friday, April 19, 2024

Today is Friday, April 19, the 110th day of 2024 with 256 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include statesman Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, in 1721; first lady Lucretia Garfield in 1832; music patron Augustus Juilliard in 1836; actor Hugh O'Brian in 1925; actor Jayne Mansfield in 1933; actor Dudley Moore in 1935; actor Elinor Donahue in 1937 (age 87); Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, in 1939 (age 85); actor Tim Curry in 1946 (age 78); actor Tony Plana in 1952 (age 72); Colombian President Gustavo Petro in 1960 (age 64); auto racer Al Unser Jr. in 1962 (age 62); record producer Marion Hugh "Suge" Knight Jr. in 1965 (age 59); singer Dar Williams in 1967 (age 57); Mswati III, king of Eswatini, in 1968 (age 56); actor Ashley Judd in 1968 (age 56); television personality Jesse James in 1969 (age 55); actor James Franco in 1978 (age 46); TV personality/businesswoman Joanna Gaines in 1978 (age 46); actor Kate Hudson in 1979 (age 45); actor Hayden Christensen in 1981 (age 43); actor Catalina Sandino Moreno in 1981 (age 43); comedian Ali Wong in 1982 (age 42); filmmaker Blitz Bazawule in 1982 (age 42); WNBA star Candace Parker in 1986 (age 38); tennis player Maria Sharapova in 1987 (age 37); actor Simu Liu in 1989 (age 35).

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington, Mass. Eight minutemen were killed and 10 injured in an exchange of musket fire with British redcoats.

In 1912, Col. Archibald Gracie, survivor on the ill-fated Titanic, told of being sucked under by the sinking ship before managing to make his way back to the surface and the safety of a life raft.

In 1943, Jewish residents of the Warsaw ghetto revolted when Germans tried to resume deportations to the Treblinka concentration camp. When the uprising ended on May 16, 7,000 Jews and 300 Germans had died and the ghetto lay in ruins.

In 1956, famed actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

In 1971, the Soviet Union launched its first Salyut space station.

In 1987, the first Simpsons cartoon appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show.

In 1989, an explosion in a gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa killed 47 sailors.

In 1989, a Wall Street banker jogging through Central Park was assaulted and raped, leaving her in a coma for more than a week. Five teenagers were convicted in the attack, but in 2002, another man confessed to the attack, which was confirmed by DNA evidence.

In 1993, a 51-day Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed a fortified compound after it was tear-gassed by authorities. Cult leader David Koresh and about 75 followers, including 17 children, were killed.

In 1994, a federal jury awarded police-beating victim Rodney King $3.8 million in compensatory damages from the city of Los Angeles.

In 1995, a bomb exploded outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring several hundred others.

In 2000, a federal appeals court ruled in a high-profile case that 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez could stay in the United States until judges heard a full appeal from his relatives who sought to retain custody of the boy. He was eventually returned to his father in Cuba.

In 2005, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, already a major power in the Roman Catholic Church, was elected pope to succeed John Paul II. He chose the name of Benedict XVI.

In 2013, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was killed by police and another, his brother, was arrested. The city had been in a virtual lockdown.

In 2018, for the first time in decades, someone outside the Castro family assumed the presidency of Cuba -- Miguel Diaz-Canel.

In 2021, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flew for 39 seconds on the surface Mars, the first powered aircraft to take flight on another planet.

In 2022, President Joe Biden's administration announced that it's finalized a rule to restore elements of an environmental law that former President Donald Trump rolled back to speed up approval for infrastructure projects.

A thought for the day: "Friendship is love without his wings." -- British poet Lord Byron