Today is the 213th day of 2015 and the 42nd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1834, Britain abolished slavery in all of its colonies.

In 1876, Colorado was admitted as the 38th U.S. state.

In 1957, the United States and Canada announced the formation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

In 1966, ex-Marine Charles Whitman opened fire from a tower at the University of Texas at Austin, killing 14 people and wounding 32.

In 2007, a highway bridge in Minneapolis collapsed over the Mississippi River, killing 13 and injuring 145.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William Clark (1770-1838), explorer; Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), poet/lawyer; Herman Melville (1819-1891), author; Dom DeLuise (1933-2009), actor/comedian; Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008), fashion designer; Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), singer-songwriter; Coolio (1963- ), rapper; Sam Mendes (1965- ), film director; Zac Brown (1978- ), musician; Jason Momoa (1979- ), actor; Charlie and Max Carver (1988- ), actors; Madison Bumgarner (1989- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles was the first music video aired on MTV when the network launched on this day in 1981.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1936, the Olympic Games opened in Berlin before a crowd of 100,000 spectators.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Would that all excellent books were foundlings, without father or mother, that so it might be, we could glorify them, without including their ostensible authors." -- Herman Melville

TODAY'S NUMBER: 14,130 -- final elevation (in feet) of Colorado's Mount Evans Scenic Byway, the highest paved road in North America.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 31) and last quarter moon (Aug. 6).

Today is the 212th day of 2015 and the 41st day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1914, trading on the New York Stock Exchange stopped in response to the outbreak of World War I. It did not resume until December of that year.

In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted the first close-up photographs of the moon.

In 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the START 1 treaty, an agreement to reduce both countries' nuclear arms stockpiles.

In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro underwent surgery and transferred presidential power to his brother Raul.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Milton Friedman (1912-2006), economist; Primo Levi (1919-1987), chemist/author; Geoffrey Lewis (1935-2015), actor; Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1951- ), tennis player; Michael Biehn (1956- ), actor; Mark Cuban (1958- ), Dallas Mavericks owner; Wesley Snipes (1962- ), actor; J.K. Rowling (1965- ), author; B.J. Novak (1979- ), actor; DeMarcus Ware (1982- ), football player; Charlie Carver (1988- ), actor; A.J. Green (1988- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The first U.S. patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins on this day in 1790, for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1961, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in a tie for the first time, when officials in Boston called the game with a 1-1 score after the ninth inning due to rain.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind." -- Milton Friedman

TODAY'S NUMBER: 11 million -- estimated population of Cuba in 2015.

TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (July 31).

Today is the 211th day of 2015 and the 40th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1619, America's first legislative assembly met in Jamestown, Virginia.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a resolution establishing "In God We Trust" as the national motto of the United States.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Act into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon released subpoenaed White House recordings related to the Watergate cover-up.

In 1975, former Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from suburban Detroit.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Emily Bronte (1818-1848), author/poet; Henry Ford (1863-1947), industrialist/automaker; Casey Stengel (1890-1975), baseball player/manager; Bud Selig (1934- ), baseball commissioner; Paul Anka (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- ), actor/former governor; Laurence Fishburne (1961- ), actor; Lisa Kudrow (1963- ), actress; Terry Crews (1968- ), actor; Christopher Nolan (1970- ), filmmaker; Hilary Swank (1974- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: "Top of the Pops," the longest-running radio show in history at 42 years, was broadcast for the final time on BBC Two on this day in 2006.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1930, the Uruguayan national football team defeated Argentina to win the inaugural FIFA World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine." -- Emily Bronte, "Wuthering Heights"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 27 -- age at which Emily Bronte finished writing "Wuthering Heights."

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (July 23) and full moon (July 31).