Today is the 118th day of 2015 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: "It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived." -- 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: Between first quarter moon (April 25) and full moon (May 3).

Today is the 117th day of 2015 and the 39th day of spring.

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

In 1865, the steamboat Sultana exploded in the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee, 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.

In 2014, John XXIII and John Paul II became the first popes to be canonized as saints since 1954.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Morse (1791-1872), Morse code co-inventor; 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 (1932-2014), radio/TV personality; August Wilson (1945-2005), playwright; Herm Edwards (1954- ), football coach/sportscaster.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1667, blind and impoverished poet John Milton sold the copyright to his masterpiece, "Paradise Lost," for 10 pounds (roughly $2,200 in 2015 U.S. currency).

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1956, 31-year-old boxer Rocky Marciano retired with a perfect 49-0 record, the only heavyweight champion to do so.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Though I have been trained as a soldier, and have participated in many battles, there never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not have been found of preventing the drawing of the sword." -- Ulysses S. Grant

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,776 -- architectural height (in feet) of One World Trade Center.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (April 25) and full moon (May 3).

Today is the 116th day of 2015 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 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: "Of course it would cost something, but he was an expert in cutting corners; and when there were no more corners left he would make circles rounder." -- Bernard Malamud, "The Magic Barrel"

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 25) and full moon (May 3).