Today’s Highlights

On June 12, 2016, a gunman opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, leaving 49 people dead and 53 wounded in what was then the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history; the gunman, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group during a three-hour standoff before being killed in a shootout with police.

On this date

1942: Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, received a diary for her 13th birthday, less than a month before she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis.

1964: Eight South African anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, were sentenced to life in prison for committing acts of sabotage against South Africa’ apartheid government.

1978: David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six “Son of Sam” killings committed in New York City over the previous two years.

1991: Russians went to the polls for their first-ever presidential election, which resulted in victory for Boris Yeltsin.

1994: Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were killed outside Simpson’s Los Angeles home. (O.J. Simpson, Nicole Brown Simpson’s ex-husband, was later acquitted of the killings in a criminal trial but was eventually held liable in a civil action.)

Today’s birthdays

Actor Sonia Manzano is 75. Actor-director Timothy Busfield is 68. Actor-comedian Finesse Mitchell is 53. Actor Jason Mewes is 51. Blues musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 48. Actor Timothy Simons is 47.