Today’s Highlights

On June 14, 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II; the same day, the Nazis transported their first prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.

On this date

1846: A group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the breakaway state of the California Republic, declaring independence from Mexico.

1919: British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown embarked on the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

1943: The U.S. Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled 6-3 that public school students could not be forced to salute the flag of the United States or recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill adding the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

1972: The Environmental Protection Agency ordered a ban on domestic use of the pesticide DDT, to take effect at year’s end.

1993: President Bill Clinton announced his nomination of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

2005: Michelle Wie, 15, became the first female player to qualify for an adult male U.S. Golf Association championship, tying for first place in a 36-hole U.S. Amateur Public Links sectional qualifying tournament.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Marla Gibbs is 94. U.S. President Donald Trump is 79. Olympic speed skating gold medalist Eric Heiden is 67. Jazz musician Marcus Miller is 66. Singer Boy George is 64. Tennis Hall of Famer Steffi Graf is 56. Classical pianist Lang Lang is 43. Actor J.R. Martinez is 42. Actor Lucy Hale is 36.