ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 261st day of 2017 and the 91st day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slave owners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to free states.

In 1947, the National Security Act took effect, establishing the Central Intelligence Agency and making the Air Force an independent branch of the U.S. military.

In 2014, the majority in Scotland voted against independence from the United Kingdom.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), author/lexicographer; Greta Garbo (1905-1990), actress; Agnes de Mille (1905-1993), dancer/choreographer; Jack Warden (1920-2006), actor; Joe Kubert (1926-2012), writer/illustrator; Scotty Bowman (1933- ), hockey coach; Fred Willard (1939- ), actor/comedian; Frankie Avalon (1940- ), singer; Rick Pitino (1952- ), basketball coach; James Gandolfini (1961-2013), actor; Aisha Tyler (1970- ), actress; Lance Armstrong (1971- ), cyclist; Jada Pinkett Smith (1971- ), actress; Jason Sudeikis (1975- ), actor/comedian.

TODAY'S FACT: In 2009, the final episode of the soap opera "Guiding Light" aired, ending its 72-year broadcast run on radio and TV.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1999, Sammy Sosa became the first Major League Baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in two seasons.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I am inclined to believe that few attacks either of ridicule or invective make much noise, but by the help of those they provoke." -- Samuel Johnson

TODAY'S NUMBER: $1 billion -- donation pledged "to United Nations causes" by media mogul Ted Turner on this day in 1997. Turner's United Nations Foundation donated its billionth dollar in 2006, $600 million of which came from Turner himself.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Sept. 12) and new moon (Sept. 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 260th day of 2017 and the 90th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1787, delegations from 12 states voted to approve the proposed Constitution at Philadelphia's Constitutional Convention.

In 1862, more than 23,000 people died or were wounded in the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, resulting in the bloodiest single day in U.S. military history.

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin reached a historic accord at Camp David.

In 2001, the New York Stock Exchange reopened, having been closed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rube Foster (1879-1930), baseball player/manager; William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), physician/poet; Hank Williams Sr. (1923-1953), singer-songwriter; George Blanda (1927-2010), football player; Anne Bancroft (1931-2005), actress; Ken Kesey (1935-2001), author; Phil Jackson (1945- ), basketball player/coach; Baz Luhrmann (1962- ), film director; Kyle Chandler (1965- ), actor; Jimmie Johnson (1975- ), race car driver; Alexander Ovechkin (1985- ), hockey player.

TODAY'S FACT: NASA unveiled its first space shuttle, Enterprise, at a ceremony in Palmdale, California, on this day in 1976.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Barry Bonds became just the third baseball player in history (after Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth) to hit 700 career home runs.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are always acting on what has just finished happening. It happened at least 1/30th of a second ago. We think we're in the present, but we aren't. The present we know is only a movie of the past." -- Ken Kesey, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 30 -- years a state of war had existed between Israel and Egypt when the Camp David accords were signed on this day in 1978.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Sept. 12) and new moon (Sept. 19).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 259th day of 2017 and the 89th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1920, the explosion of a bomb on Wall Street killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds of others.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, authorizing the military draft.

In 1955, Argentine president Juan Peron was ousted by a military coup.

In 1974, President Gerald Ford announced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War deserters and draft evaders.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jean Arp (1886-1966), artist; H.A. Rey (1898-1977), children's author/illustrator; Lauren Bacall (1924-2014), actress; B.B. King (1925-2015), musician; Peter Falk (1927-2011), actor; Ed Begley Jr. (1949- ), actor; Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950- ), author/academic; Mickey Rourke (1952- ), actor; David Copperfield (1956- ), magician; Marc Anthony (1968- ), singer-songwriter; Amy Poehler (1971- ), actress; Nick Jonas (1992- ), singer/musician.

TODAY'S FACT: German-born Jewish authors Margret and H.A. Rey fled Paris by bicycle in June 1940, the manuscript for what would become "Curious George" in tow, just before the city fell to Nazi Germany.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1981, Sugar Ray Leonard unified boxing's welterweight title by knocking out Tommy Hearns in the 14th round of a bout in an outdoor arena at the Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Sculpture should walk on the tips of its toes, unostentatious, unpretentious and light as the spoor of an animal in snow. Art should melt into and even merge with nature itself." -- Jean Arp

TODAY'S NUMBER: 342 -- one-night stand gigs performed by blues legend B.B. King and his band in 1956.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Sept. 12) and new moon (Sept. 19).