Today is Thursday, June 4, the 155th day of 2015 with 210 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mercury, Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include George III, king of England during the American Revolutionary War, in 1738; actor Rosalind Russell in 1907; opera singer Robert Merrill in 1917; actor Dennis Weaver in 1924; actor Bruce Dern in 1936 (age 79); radio/TV host Ruth Westheimer in 1928 (age 87); singer Freddy Fender in 1937; publisher/commentator Mortimer Zuckerman in 1937 (age 78); singer/actor Michelle Phillips in 1944 (age 71); actor Parker Stevenson in 1952 (age 63); singer El DeBarge in 1961 (age 54); actor Scott Wolf in 1968 (age 47); actor Horatio Sanz in 1969 (age 46); actor Noah Wyle in 1971 (age 44); actor/filmmaker Angelina Jolie in 1975 (age 40).
On this date in history:
In 1784, France’s Marie Thible of Lyons became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon.
In 1896, Henry Ford wheeled his first car from a brick shed in Detroit and drove it around darkened streets on a trial run.
In 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded.
In 1940, the World War II evacuation of Dunkirk, France, was completed. A flotilla of small boats spent nearly a week crossing the English Channel to rescue nearly 350,000 British, French and Belgian troops from advancing German forces.
In 1944, the last of German occupiers fled Rome ahead of the advancing U.S. 9th Army.
In 1972, black militant Angela Davis was acquitted of murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy charges stemming from a California courtroom shootout in which a judge and three other people were killed.
In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Alabama minute-of-silence law as specifically fostering classroom prayer.
In 1989, in what became known as the Tiananmen Square massacre, hundreds of student-led pro-democracy demonstrators were reported killed and thousands wounded as Chinese troops removed them from the square in Beijing.
In 1990, an Oregon woman, Janet Adkins, killed herself in Michigan using a “suicide machine” developed by “Dr. Death” Jack Kevorkian. She was the retired pathologist’s first reported “medicide” patient.
In 1991, Albania’s Cabinet resigned, ending 46 years of Communist rule.
In 1992, U.S. Postal Service officials announced that a 1950s-era Elvis Presley portrait was chosen overwhelmingly over an older Las Vegas-style Elvis in a nationwide vote for a new postage stamp honoring “The King.”
In 1998, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his part in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.
In 2005, the Covington Diocese in Kentucky agreed to pay up to $120 million to more than 100 alleged victims of child molestation from the past 50 years.
In 2006, former Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez regained the presidency in a runoff victory over Ollanta Humula Tasso.
In 2009, the U.S. government reported the nation’s unemployment rate in June reached 9.4 percent, its highest figure in 26 years. The report said 14.5 million Americans were out of work.
In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama named Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. director of national intelligence.
In 2014, Don Zimmer, who played for five teams, managed four and held many coaching and other positions in one of the longest-lasting Major League Baseball careers, died at the age of 83. Zimmer was “one of our game’s most universally beloved figures,” MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said.
A thought for the day: “Here is the truth: The Earth is round, Saddam Hussein did not attack us on 9/11, Elvis is dead, Obama was born in the United States — and the climate crisis is real.” — Al Gore
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