Today is Tuesday, June 6, the 157th day of 2017. There are 208 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 6, 1944, during World War II, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on “D-Day” as they began the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe.
On this date:
In 1523, Gustav Vasa became Sweden’s new king, Gustav I.
In 1654, Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated; she was succeeded by her cousin, Charles X Gustav.
In 1799, American politician and orator Patrick Henry died at Red Hill Plantation in Virginia.
In 1809, Sweden adopted a new constitution.
In 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association was founded in London.
In 1925, Walter Percy Chrysler founded the Chrysler Corp.
In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater was opened by Richard Hollingshead in Camden County, New Jersey. (The movie shown was “Wives Beware,” starring Adolphe Menjou.)
In 1966, black activist James Meredith was shot and wounded as he walked along a Mississippi highway to encourage black voter registration.
In 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, a day after he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.
In 1977, a sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law imposing an automatic death sentence on defendants convicted of the first-degree murder of a police officer.
In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon to drive Palestine Liberation Organization fighters out of the country. (The Israelis withdrew in June 1985.)
In 1994, President Bill Clinton joined leaders from America’s World War II allies to mark the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. A China Northwest Airlines passenger jet crashed near Xian (SHEE’-ahn), killing all 160 people on board.
Ten years ago: The Group of Eight summit opened in Heiligendamm, Germany. Police arrested a suspect in the abduction and death of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, whose body was found in a Missouri park four days after she’d disappeared from a Kansas store’s parking lot. (Edwin R. Hall later pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison.) Police in Connecticut looking for clues in the yearlong disappearance of a 15-year-old Bloomfield girl found her locked in a hidden room in a West Hartford home owned by an acquaintance of her parents. (Adam Gault later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexual assault and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.) The Anaheim Ducks captured the Stanley Cup with a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 5. Bob Barker taped his last episode as host of CBS’ “The Price Is Right.”
Five years ago: Business social network LinkedIn reported that some of its users’ passwords had been stolen and leaked onto the Internet. New Yorkers lined the West Side waterfront to welcome the space shuttle Enterprise as it sailed up the Hudson River to its new home aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
One year ago: A jury in Los Angeles returned a death sentence for Lonnie Franklin Jr., the serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” who murdered nine women and a teenage girl over several decades. Space station astronauts opened the world’s first inflatable space habitat, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, and floated inside. Kimbo Slice (Kevin Ferguson), the bearded street fighter who parlayed his internet popularity into a mixed martial arts career and worldwide fame, died in Margate, Florida, at age 42. Theresa Saldana, the “Raging Bull” actress who survived a stalker’s brutal attack to become a crime victims’ advocate and reclaimed her acting career with “The Commish” and other TV shows, died in Los Angeles at 61. Playwright Peter Shaffer (“Equus”; “Amadeus”) died in County Cork, Ireland at age 90.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer-songwriter Gary “U.S.” Bonds is 78. Country singer Joe Stampley is 74. Jazz musician Monty Alexander is 73. Actor Robert Englund is 70. Folk singer Holly Near is 68. Singer Dwight Twilley is 66. Playwright-actor Harvey Fierstein (FY’-ur-steen) is 65. Comedian Sandra Bernhard is 62. International Tennis Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg is 61. Actress Amanda Pays is 58. Comedian Colin Quinn is 58. Record producer Jimmy Jam is 58. Rock musician Steve Vai is 57. Rock singer-musician Tom Araya (Slayer) is 56. Actor Jason Isaacs is 54. Rock musician Sean Yseult (White Zombie) is 51. Actor Max Casella is 50. Actor Paul Giamatti is 50. Rhythm-and-blues singer Damion Hall (Guy) is 49. Rock musician Bardi Martin is 48. Rock musician James “Munky” Shaffer (Korn) is 47. TV correspondent Natalie Morales is 45. Country singer Lisa Brokop is 44. Rapper-rocker Uncle Kracker is 43. Actress Sonya Walger is 43. Actress Staci Keanan is 42. Actress Amber Borycki is 34. Actress Aubrey Anderson-Emmons is 10.
Thought for Today: “Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” — Booker T. Washington, American educator (1856-1915).
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