ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 96th day of 2017 and the 18th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1830, Joseph Smith established the Mormon Church in Fayette Township, New York.

In 1896, the first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens, 1,500 years after the last recorded original games.

In 1917, the United States formally entered World War I by declaring war on Germany.

In 1947, the first Tony Awards were presented for achievement in live Broadway theater.

In 1992, the Bosnian War began in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936), journalist; Gil Kane (1926-2000), illustrator; Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996), jazz musician; Merle Haggard (1937-2016), singer-songwriter; Billy Dee Williams (1937- ), actor; Barry Levinson (1942- ), director/producer; John Ratzenberger (1947- ), actor; Michael Rooker (1955- ), actor; Paul Rudd (1969- ), actor; Zach Braff (1975- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: American explorer Robert Peary and his team were long believed to be the first humans to reach the North Pole, on this day in 1909. Navigational errors documented in Peary's journals and analyzed decades later placed the expedition roughly 30 miles outside the Pole.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, the University of Connecticut became the first university to win the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball championships in the same year. UConn repeated the feat in 2014.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Remember we really don’t know anything. Keep your baby eyes (which are the eyes of genius) on what we don’t know. That is your playground, bare and graveled, safe and unbreakable." -- Lincoln Steffens

TODAY'S NUMBER: 20 -- medals won by the United States at the first modern Olympic Games, second only to host nation Greece (46).

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 3) and full moon (April 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 95th day of 2017 and the 17th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1792, George Washington cast the first presidential veto, striking down a bill that concerned representative apportionment among the states.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1955, Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister of Great Britain due to failing health.

In 2010, an explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia killed 29 miners.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), philosopher; Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), writer/educator; Spencer Tracy (1900-1967), actor; Bette Davis (1908-1989), actress; Gregory Peck (1916-2003), actor; Roger Corman (1926- ), filmmaker; Colin Powell (1937- ), U.S. Army general/diplomat; Mitch Pileggi (1952- ), actor; Pharrell Williams (1973- ), rapper/producer; Hayley Atwell (1982- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Easter Island, located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, was given its name by its first recorded European visitor, Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who first encountered it on Easter Sunday, on this day in 1722.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers scored his 31,420th career point, breaking the NBA's all-time scoring record.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "In any country, regardless of what its laws say, wherever people act upon the idea that the disadvantage of one man is the good of another, there slavery exists." -- Booker T. Washington

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2.43 -- length (in miles) of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, linking the city of Kobe to Awaji Island in Japan. The bridge, which has the longest main span of any suspension bridge in the world, opened to traffic on this day in 1998.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 3) and full moon (April 10).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 94th day of 2017 and the 16th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1850, Los Angeles was incorporated as a city.

In 1949, 12 nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pact.

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1973, the World Trade Center was dedicated in New York City.

In 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Tris Speaker (1888-1958), baseball player; Robert Sherwood (1896-1955), playwright; Muddy Waters (1913-1983), blues musician; Maya Angelou (1928-2014), poet/author; Anthony Perkins (1932-1992), actor; Craig T. Nelson (1944- ), actor; David E. Kelley (1956- ), TV writer/producer; Hugo Weaving (1960- ), actor; Graham Norton (1963- ), TV personality; David Cross (1964- ), actor/comedian; Robert Downey Jr. (1965- ), actor; David Blaine (1973- ), magician; Dave Mirra (1974-2016), BMX rider; Heath Ledger (1979-2008), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The Beatles remain the only artists in history to simultaneously hold the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a feat the group accomplished on this day in 1964.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1982, Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers finished the season with 212 points. He remains the only player in NHL history to top 200 points in a season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." -- Maya Angelou

TODAY'S NUMBER: 31 -- days in office for William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, who died of pneumonia on this day in 1841. Harrison was the first U.S. president to die in office, and his tenure remains the shortest in U.S. presidential history.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 3) and full moon (April 10).