Almanac for Saturday, June 6, 2020

Today is Saturday, June 6, the 158th day of 2020 with 208 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Spanish painter Diego Velazquez in 1599; American patriot Nathan Hale in 1755; painter John Trumbull in 1756; Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin in 1799; clothier David T. Abercrombie in 1867; German novelist Thomas Mann in 1875; Indonesian dictator Achmed Sukarno in 1901; bandleader Jimmie Lunceford in 1902; astronaut David Scott in 1932 (age 88); singer Levi Stubbs in 1936; singer Gary "U.S." Bonds in 1939 (age 81); Olympic gold medal sprinter/protester Tommie Smith in 1944 (age 76); actor David Dukes in 1945; actor Robert Englund in 1947 (age 73); actor Harvey Fierstein in 1954 (age 66); comedian Sandra Bernhard in 1955 (age 65); tennis player Bjorn Borg in 1956 (age 64); actor Amanda Pays in 1959 (age 61); metal singer Tom Araya in 1961 (age 59); actor Jason Isaacs in 1963 (age 57); actor Paul Giamatti in 1967 (age 53); actor Aubrey Anderson-Emmons in 2007 (age 13).

On this date in history:

In 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association -- YMCA -- was founded in London.

In 1872, feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in an election in Rochester, N.Y. She refused to pay the fine and a judge allowed her to go free.

In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened -- in Camden, N.J.

In 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops began crossing the English Channel in the D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was the largest invasion in history.

In 1966, James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot by a sniper during a civil rights "March Against Fear" walk in the South. Meredith was hospitalized and recovered from his wounds, later rejoining the long march, which he had originated.

In 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. attorney general, died the day after he was struck by an assassin's bullets in California. He was 42.

In 1972, a coal mine explosion in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), trapped 464 miners underground. More than 425 people died.

In 1981, a train conductor braked too hard to avoid hitting a cow, causing several cars in his train to slip off the tracks in rainy weather. The cars slid off a bridge into a swollen river, drowning an estimated 600 people in India.

In 1982, thousands of Israeli forces pushed deep into Lebanon in an effort to defeat Palestinian guerrillas sheltering in the southern border region and near the capital of Beirut. Syria said its forces joined the fighting in a major escalation of the conflict.

In 1993, the Guatemalan legislature elected Ramiro de Leon Carpio as president to replace ousted leader Jorge Serrano.

In 2009, a fire that inspectors said began in a tire store next door destroyed a childcare center in Hermosillo, Mexico, killing 35 children ages 1-5 and injuring about 100 others.

In 2019, New York Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill apologized on the NYPD's behalf for officers' actions during the 1969 Stonewall riots.

A thought for the day: "Progress is a nice word, but change is its motivator and change has enemies." -- U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy