UPI Almanac for Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018

Today is Sunday, Sept. 9, the 252nd day of 2018 with 113 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Virgo. They include the Cardinal-duc de Richelieu, French statesman/Roman Catholic cardinal, in 1585; British Capt. William Bligh, of the HMS Bounty, in 1754; Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 1828; baseball Hall of Fame member Frank Chance in 1876; Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Harland Sanders in 1890; rhythm and blues singer Otis Redding in 1941; football Hall of Fame member Joe Theismann in 1949 (age 69); actor Tom Wopat in 1951 (age 67); actor Angela Cartwright in 1952 (age 66); actor Hugh Grant in 1960 (age 58); actor Constance Marie in 1965 (age 53); actor Adam Sandler in 1966 (age 52); actor Rachel Hunter in 1969 (age 49); actor Henry Thomas (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) in 1971 (age 47); actor Eric Stonestreet in 1971 (age 47); actor Goran Visnjic in 1972 (age 46); singer Michael Buble in 1975 (age 43); rapper Soulja Slim in 1977; actor Michelle Williams in 1980 (age 38); actor Timothy Granaderos in 1986 (age 32); singer Hunter Hayes in 1991 (age 27); actor Kelsey Chow in 1991 (age 27).

On this date in history:

In 1543, Mary Stuart is crowned Mary Queen of Scots at 9 months old.

In 1776, the second Continental Congress officially changed the new American nation's name from "United Colonies" to "United States."

In 1850, California became the 31st state.

In 1893, first lady Frances Folsom Cleveland gives birth to a daughter in the White House. Esther Cleveland was the first child of a president to be born in the White House.

In 1908, Orville Wright completed the first hourlong airplane flight during a series of tests in Fort Myer, Va.

In 1919, Boston police go on strike, prompting riots. Law enforcement sought better wages and working conditions, and the strike highlighted the growing influence of trade unions in the United States.

In 1956, rock 'n' roll singer Elvis Presley appeared on national television for the first time -- on The Ed Sullivan Show.

In 1971, more than 1,000 convicts took over the state prison at Attica, N.Y., and held hostages. Four days later, 28 convicts and nine hostages were killed as state police reclaimed the prison. The overall death toll was later set at 43.

In 1976, Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong died at age 82.

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan denounced apartheid as "systematic, institutionalized racial discrimination" and imposed a series of economic sanctions against South Africa.

In 1990, Liberian President Samuel Doe was killed by rebels after visiting the headquarters of West African peacekeeping forces in Monrovia.

In 1993, in a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the PLO recognized the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace and security. In turn, Rabin declared the PLO the representative of the Palestinian people.

In 1995, Steffi Graf won her fourth of five U.S. Open women's singles title, defeating Monica Seles in her first appearance since a fan stabbed her in 1993. Graff ended her career with 22 Grand Slam singles championships.

In 1999, more than 90 people died in the bombing of a Moscow apartment building. The blast was blamed on militants from the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

In 2003, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay $85 million in lawsuits by more than 500 people who said they sexually abused by priests.

In 2008, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was ousted for moonlighting as a paid performer on a TV cooking show.

In 2010, a federal judge in California ruled that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy preventing homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. armed services was unconstitutional.

In 2015, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II became England's longest-serving monarch, surpassing the record set by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, more than a century earlier.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida, leaving millions in the state without power. The Category 5 storm was blamed for more than 130 deaths throughout the Caribbean and the United States.

A thought for the day: "A country's competitiveness starts not on the factory floor or in the engineering lab. It starts in the classroom." -- former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca