Almanac

Today is Sunday, April 28, the 119th day of 2024 with 247 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include British King Edward IV in 1442; James Monroe, fifth president of the United States, in 1758; British engineer/mathematician/physicist/inventor Hertha Marks Ayrton in 1854; actor Lionel Barrymore in 1878; German industrialist Oskar Schindler, credited with saving almost 1,200 Jews during the World War II Holocaust, in 1908; automaker Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1916; novelist Harper Lee in 1926; former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker in 1930 (age 94); actor Carolyn Jones in 1930; Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 1937; actor Madge Sinclair in 1940; actor Ann-Margret in 1941 (age 83); actor Marcia Strassman in 1948; author Terry Pratchett in 1948; actor Paul Guilfoyle in 1949 (age 75); actor Bruno Kirby in 1949; comedian Jay Leno in 1950 (age 74); actor Mary McDonnell in 1952 (age 72); musician Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) in 1953 (age 71); U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan in 1960 (age 64); author Ian Rankin in 1960 (age 64); Hall of Fame baseball player Barry Larkin in 1964 (age 60); golfer John Daly in 1966 (age 58); musician Too Short, born Todd Anthony Shaw, in 1966 (age 58); actor Bridget Moynahan in 1971 (age 53); actor Jorge Garcia in 1973 (age 51); actor Penelope Cruz in 1974 (age 50); actor Michael Carbonaro in 1976 (age 48); TV personality Drew Scott in 1978 (age 46); TV personality Jonathan Scott in 1978 (age 46); actor Nate Richert in 1978 (age 46); actor Jessica Alba in 1981 (age 43); actor Harry Shum Jr. in 1982 (age 42); actor Jenna Ushkowitz in 1986 (age 38); actor Tony Revolori in 1996 (age 28); musician Victoria de Angelis (Måneskin) in 2000 (age 24).

On this date in history:

In 1788, Maryland ratified the U.S. Constitution, becoming the seventh state of the Union.

In 1789, the most famous of all naval mutinies took place aboard the HMS Bounty en route from Tahiti to Jamaica.

In 1915, the International Congress of Women, convening in The Hague, selected Miss Jane Addams of Chicago as its permanent chairman.

In 1930, the first night game in organized baseball history was played in Independence, Kan.

In 1945, fascist leader Benito Mussolini, his mistress and several of his friends were executed by Italian partisans.

In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl and five crew members began a trip from Peru to Polynesia on the Kon-Tiki, a raft made of balsa logs and other natural materials. The voyage covered 4,300 miles over 101 days.

In 1955, the Public Health Service urged parents to move swiftly in having their children vaccinated for polio.

In 1975, North Vietnamese forces advanced to the outskirts of Saigon in the Vietnam War. Two days later, South Vietnam surrendered.

In 1988, an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 lost an 18-foot section of its roof at 24,000 feet between Hilo, Hawaii, and Honolulu, killing a flight attendant. The pilot landed on Maui with the remaining 94 passengers and crew members, 61 of them injured.

In 1994, former CIA officer Aldrich Ames pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviet Union. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1995, an underground gas explosion at a subway construction site killed about 100 people in Taegu, South Korea.

In 1996, a rampage by a gunman in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, killed 35 people.

In 2001, California businessman Dennis Tito became the first tourist in space. He reportedly paid Russia's space agency $20 million to give him a ride to the International Space Station.

In 2005, a Shiite-led Cabinet was approved by Iraq's National Assembly for its first freely elected government.

In 2009, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, winding up his fifth term as a Republican stalwart, announced he would seek re-election in 2010 as a Democrat, switching parties because he found himself "increasingly at odds" with the Republican Party.

In 2009, three Albanian immigrant brothers were sentenced to life in prison for their part in a plot to attack soldiers at Fort Dix.

In 2019, Game of Thrones episode "The Long Night" airs on HBO with the longest battle scene ever filmed, lasting about 80 minutes.

In 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva officially recognized six indigenous territories in the first such demarcation since 2018.

A thought for the day: "I have no regrets. I don't believe in looking back. What I am proudest of? Working really hard ... and achieving as much as I could." -- U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan