ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 116th day of 2018 and the 38th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, was killed by Union troops in Virginia.

In 1937, German planes bombed the city of Guernica in Spain.

In 1986, a reactor ruptured at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Soviet Union, spreading radioactive material over much of Europe.

In 2000, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation's first bill allowing gay couples to form civil unions.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863), artist; Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), landscape architect; Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), philosopher; Charles Richter (1900-1985), seismologist; Bernard Malamud (1914-1986), author; I.M. Pei (1917- ), architect; Carol Burnett (1933- ), actress/comedian; Giancarlo Esposito (1958- ), actor; Jet Li (1963- ), actor; Kevin James (1965- ), actor/comedian; Tom Welling (1977- ), actor; Channing Tatum (1980- ), actor; Aaron Judge (1992- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States has 99 operational nuclear reactors, more than any other nation.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1941, the organ, now a staple at Major League Baseball stadiums, made its debut at Wrigley Field, during a game in which the Chicago Cubs lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall." -- Bernard Malamud, "The Man in the Drawer"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 64,000 -- square miles contaminated by radioactive material from the Chernobyl disaster, an area approximately the size of Wisconsin.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 22) and full moon (April 29).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 115th day of 2018 and the 37th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1859, British, French and German engineers began construction on the Suez Canal in Egypt.

In 1898, the United States declared war on Spain.

In 1945, U.S. and Soviet troops met at the Elbe River in Germany, signaling the defeat of German defenses.

In 1953, Francis Crick and James D. Watson published an article describing the double helix structure of DNA.

In 2011, a four-day tornado outbreak in the southern United States began, producing 358 confirmed tornadoes and killing more than 300 people.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), soldier/politician; Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965), journalist; Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), singer; Meadowlark Lemon (1932-2015), basketball player; Jerry Leiber (1933-2011), songwriter/producer; Al Pacino (1940- ), actor; Hank Azaria (1964- ), actor; John Henson (1965-2014), puppeteer; Joe Buck (1969- ), sportscaster; Renee Zellweger (1969- ), actress; Jason Lee (1970- ), actor; Tim Duncan (1976- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1901, New York became the first state to begin requiring automobile license plates.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, Chuck Cooper became the first African-American drafted into the NBA when he was selected by the Boston Celtics with the first pick of the second round.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer." -- Edward R. Murrow

TODAY'S NUMBER: 26,723 -- nautical miles traveled by the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered submarine USS Triton during its 60-day, 21-hour submerged circumnavigation of the world, completed on this day in 1960.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 22) and full moon (April 29).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 114th day of 2018 and the 36th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States.

In 1916, the Irish Republican Brotherhood began the Easter Uprising in Dublin, Ireland, seizing several key locations and proclaiming Irish independence.

In 1980, the United States launched Operation Eagle Claw, an unsuccessful attempt to free American hostages in Iran that resulted in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.

In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the space shuttle Discovery.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), artist; Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989), novelist/poet; Richard Donner (1930- ), filmmaker; Shirley MacLaine (1934- ), actress; Sue Grafton (1940-2017), author; Barbra Streisand (1942- ), singer/actress; Cedric the Entertainer (1964- ), comedian/actor; Djimon Hounsou (1964- ), actor; Aidan Gillen (1968- ), actor; Damon Lindelof (1973- ), TV writer/executive; Kelly Clarkson (1982- ), singer-songwriter.

TODAY'S FACT: The Hubble Space Telescope's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is scheduled for launch in 2020. NASA estimates that Hubble will make its natural atmospheric re-entry between 2030 and 2040.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1901, the first American League game was played. The Chicago White Stockings defeated the Cleveland Blues, 8-2.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The poem ... is a little myth of man's capacity of making life meaningful. And in the end, the poem is not a thing we see -- it is, rather, a light by which we may see -- and what we see is life." -- Robert Penn Warren

TODAY'S NUMBER: $300 million -- price reportedly paid by hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin for the Willem de Kooning painting "Interchange" in a private sale in September 2015. It was the highest known price paid for a painting until November 2017, when da Vinci’s "Salvator Mundi" sold for $450.3 million.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 22) and full moon (April 29).