Today’s Highlights

Today in history:

On June 17, 1994, after leading police on a slow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial in 1995, but held liable in a civil trial in 1997.)

Also on this date:

1972: President Richard Nixon’s eventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s, Watergate complex.

2008: Hundreds of same-sex couples got married across California on the first full day that same-sex marriage became legal by order of the state’s highest court; an estimated 11,000 same-sex couples would be married under the California law in its first three months.

2015: Nine Black worshippers were killed when a gunman opened fire during a Bible study gathering at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (Dylann Roof, a white supremacist, was captured the following day; he would be convicted on state and federal murder and hate crime charges and sentenced to death.)

Today’s birthdays

Filmmaker Ken Loach is 89. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is 82. Comedian Joe Piscopo is 74. Actor Jon Gries is 68. Filmmaker Bobby Farrelly is 67. Actor Thomas Haden Church is 65. Actor Greg Kinnear is 62. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Dan Jansen is 60. Fashion designer Tory Burch is 59.