Today’s Highlights

On April 19, 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and Concord—the start of an eight-year armed conflict between American colonists and the British Army.

On this date

1943: During World War II, tens of thousands of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but ultimately futile uprising against Nazi forces.

1977: The Supreme Court, in Ingraham v. Wright, ruled 5-4 that even severe spanking of schoolchildren by faculty members did not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

1993: The 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as the Davidians set fire to their compound following an FBI tear gas attack. Seventy-five people, including 25 children and sect leader David Koresh, were killed.

1995: Timothy McVeigh, seeking to strike at the government he blamed for the Branch Davidian deaths two years earlier, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (McVeigh was convicted of federal murder charges and executed in 2001.)

Today’s birthdays

Singer-songwriter Roberto Carlos is 84. Actor Tim Curry is 79. Motorsports Hall of Famer Al Unser Jr. is 63. Actor Ashley Judd is 57. Latin pop singer Luis Miguel is 55. Actor James Franco is 47. Actor Kate Hudson is 46. Actor Hayden Christensen is 44. Football Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu is 44. Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Mauer is 42.