Today is the 164th day of 2016 and the 85th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi.

In 1964, anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.

In 1978, David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" serial killer, was sentenced to 365 years in prison.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" in a speech delivered in divided Berlin.

In 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson, ex-wife of professional football player O.J. Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered in Los Angeles.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), priest/historian/author; Uta Hagen (1919-2004), actress; George H.W. Bush (1924- ), 41st U.S. president; Anne Frank (1929-1945), diarist/Holocaust victim; Jim Nabors (1930- ), actor; Marv Albert (1941- ), sportscaster; Chick Corea (1941- ), musician; Hideki Matsui (1974- ), baseball player; Dave Franco (1985- ), actor; Blake Ross (1985- ), software engineer.

TODAY'S FACT: Assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers' brother, Charles Evers, was the first African-American since Reconstruction to be elected a mayor in Mississippi, in 1969.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1939, the Baseball Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown, New York.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Except a living man there is nothing more wonderful than a book! A message from the dead -- from human souls we never saw, who lived, perhaps, thousands of miles away. And yet these, in those little sheets of paper, speak to us, arouse us, terrify us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers." -- Charles Kingsley

TODAY'S NUMBER: 28 -- years the Berlin Wall stood separating East and West Berlin.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (June 12).

Today is the 163rd day of 2016 and the 84th day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1770, Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia by accidentally running aground on a shoal.

In 1963, Alabama Gov. George Wallace, confronted by National Guard troops, allowed the University of Alabama to be desegregated.

In 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire at a busy intersection in Saigon, South Vietnam, in protest of the government's religious persecution.

In 2001, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Richard Strauss (1864-1949), composer/conductor; Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997), explorer/inventor/writer; Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), football coach; William Styron (1925-2006), author; Gene Wilder (1933- ), actor; Joe Montana (1956- ), football player; Hugh Laurie (1959- ), actor; Peter Dinklage (1969- ), actor; Joshua Jackson (1978- ), actor; Diana Taurasi (1982- ), basketball player; Shia LaBeouf (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution stating that Italian inventor Antonio Meucci, who demonstrated his "telettrofono" device in New York in 1860, should be recognized for his work in the invention of the telephone.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1919, Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win horse racing's Triple Crown.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There are friends one makes at a youthful age in whom one simply rejoices, for whom one possesses a love and loyalty mysteriously lacking in the friendships made in after-years, no matter how genuine." -- William Styron, "Sophie's Choice"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 133,000 -- square mileage of the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system, made up of more than 2,500 individual reefs and 900 islands.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (June 4) and first quarter moon (June 12).

Today is the 162nd day of 2016 and the 83rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1935, Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Ohio.

In 1964, the U.S. Senate voted to end a filibuster staged in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, clearing the way for the bill's eventual approval.

In 1967, Israel and Syria agreed to a cease-fire, ending the Six-Day War.

In 2003, NASA launched the Mars exploration rover Spirit from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952), actress; Prince Philip (1921- ), husband of Queen Elizabeth II; Judy Garland (1922-1969), actress/singer; Nat Hentoff (1925- ), historian/author; Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), author/illustrator; Jeanne Tripplehorn (1963- ), actress; Elizabeth Hurley (1965- ), model/actress; Bill Burr (1968- ), actor/comedian; Tara Lipinski (1982- ), figure skater; Andy Schleck (1985- ), cyclist; Kate Upton (1992- ), model/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: NASA's original mission plan for the Spirit called for the rover to last 90 sols (solar days on Mars) and to drive a total of 0.4 miles. Spirit actually operated for approximately 2,208 sols and covered 4.8 miles before getting stuck in soft soil.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 11th horse to win horse racing's Triple Crown.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "One of the few graces of getting old -- and God knows there are few graces -- is that if you've worked hard and kept your nose to the grindstone, something happens: The body gets old but the creative mechanism is refreshed, smoothed and oiled and honed. That is the grace. That is the splendid grace." -- Maurice Sendak

TODAY'S NUMBER: 15 -- age of Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds when he pitched two-thirds of an inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on this day in 1944, becoming the youngest player to ever take the field in a Major League Baseball game.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (June 4) and first quarter moon (June 12).