Today is the 118th day of 2014 and the 40th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, a mutiny broke out on the British trade ship Bounty.

In 1945, Italian partisans executed dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress by firing squad.

In 1952, the United States ended its occupation of Japan.

In 1965, U.S. troops began an occupation of the Dominican Republic in an effort to thwart the establishment of a communist regime.

In 1994, CIA officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleaded guilty to spying for the Soviet Union and Russia.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James Monroe (1758-1831), fifth U.S. president; Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954), actor; Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), businessman; Harper Lee (1926- ), author; Ann-Margret (1941- ), singer/actress; Bruno Kirby (1949-2006), actor; Jay Leno (1950- ), comedian/TV personality; L'Wren Scott (1964-2014), model/fashion designer; John Daly (1966- ), golfer; Bridget Moynahan (1971- ), actress; Jorge Garcia (1973- ), actor; Penelope Cruz (1974- ), actress; Jessica Alba (1981- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Aldrich Ames made $4.6 million selling CIA secrets to the KGB from 1985 to 1993.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army and was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." -- Harper Lee, "To Kill a Mockingbird"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4,610 -- episodes of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," which aired for 22 seasons, ending with Leno's final show on February 6, 2014.

TODAY'S MOON: New moon (April 28).

Today is the 117th day of 2014 and the 39th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1521, explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Philippines.

In 1805, U.S. Marines captured Derna, a city on "the shores of Tripoli."

In 1865, the steamboat Sultana exploded in the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tenn., killing some 1,700 passengers.

In 2006, construction began on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) at the World Trade Center site in New York City.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), soldier/18th U.S. president; Rogers Hornsby (1896-1963), baseball player; Enos Slaughter (1916-2002), baseball player; Jack Klugman (1922-2012), actor; Coretta Scott King (1927-2006), activist; Casey Kasem (1932- ), radio/TV personality; August Wilson (1945-2005), playwright.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1667, blind and impoverished poet John Milton sold the copyright to his masterpiece, "Paradise Lost," for 10 pounds.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, 31-year-old boxer Rocky Marciano retired with a perfect record, the only heavyweight champion to do so.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who have helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity." -- Ulysses S. Grant

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,776 -- planned height (in feet) of One World Trade Center when the skyscraper is completed.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (April 22) and new moon (April 28).

Today is the 116th day of 2014 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.

TODAY'S FACT: The United States has 104 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: "Without heroes we're all plain people and don't know how far we can go." -- Bernard Malamud

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 last quarter moon (April 22) and new moon (April 28).