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Today is Wednesday, Dec. 4, the 339th day of 2024 with 27 to follow. The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
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Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. They include writer Samuel Butler in 1835; British World War I nurse Edith Cavell in 1865; Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1892; game show host Wink Martindale in 1933 (age 91); actor Max Baer Jr. in 1937 (age 87); Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Dennis Wilson in 1944; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Chris Hillman in 1944 (age 80); writer A. Scott Berg in 1949 (age 75); actor Jeff Bridges in 1949 (age 75); actor Patricia Wettig in 1951 (age 73); sports broadcaster Skip Bayless in 1951 (age 73); Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani in 1956 (age 67); Olympic gold medal pole vaulter Sergey Bubka in 1963 (age 61); actor Marisa Tomei in 1964 (age 60); news commentator Suzanne Malveaux in 1966 (age 58); actor Fred Armisen in 1966 (age 58); rapper Jay-Z, born Shawn Corey Carter, in 1969 (age 55); model/television personality Tyra Banks in 1973 (age 51); musician Jelly Roll, born Jason Bradley DeFord, in 1984 (age 40); actor Orlando Brown in 1986 (age 38); singer Jin, born Kim Seok-jin, in 1992 (age 32).
On this date in history:
In 1881, the Los Angeles Times published its first edition.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson became the first sitting U.S. president to travel to Europe. He lead the U.S. delegation to a peace conference ending World War I.
In 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered liquidation of the Works Projects Administration, created during the Great Depression to provide work for the unemployed. The WPA was originally called the Works Progress Administration.
In 1954, the first Burger King fast-food restaurant opened -- in Miami.
In 1969, Chicago police killed two members of the Black Panthers -- Mark Clark and Fred Hampton -- in what officials described as a gun fight. An investigation later determined police falsified their report and fired about 100 bullets compared to one from the two men. All charges against the police were dismissed.
In 1971, India joined East Pakistan in its war for independence from West Pakistan. East Pakistan became the republic of Bangladesh.
In 1991, American Terry Anderson was freed by his pro-Iranian captors after six years.
In 1992, President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops into Somalia.
In 1997, health officials in Europe voted to ban most forms of advertising of tobacco beginning in four to five years.
In 2006, John Bolton resigned as U.S. envoy to the United Nations. He had been a harsh critic of U.N. bureaucracy.
In 2009, an Italian jury found U.S. exchange student Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, guilty of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher. Knox and Sollecito were acquitted in 2011.
In 2012, Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, responding to a challenge to survive on food stamps, began a week of spending less than $5 a day on food -- posting his grocery receipts on Facebook and Twitter. "This is hard," said Booker, who became a U.S. senator in 2013.
In 2022, singer Gladys Knight, Irish rock band U2, Cuban-born composer Tania Leon, singer-songwriter Amy Grant, and actor and filmmaker George Clooney were honored at the annual Kennedy Center Honors.
A thought for the day: British writer Samuel Butler said, "The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you but he will make a fool of himself, too."
