Today is Tuesday, April 8, the 98th day of 2025
with 267 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars and Uranus.
On this date in history:
In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, requiring that U.S. senators be "elected by the people."
In 1918, actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin pitch Third Liberty Loan bonds in front of the Sub-Treasury (now Federal Hall National Memorial) in New York City.
In 1935, the U.S. Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, a central part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.
In 1952, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike.
In 1960, the United States Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1960. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would sign it into law on May 6, 1960.
In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's longstanding career record. Aaron played two more seasons, ending with 755 home runs, a total eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds, who had 762.
In 1990, Ryan White, who put the face of a child on AIDS, died of complications from the disease at age 18.
In 1992, former tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.
In 2005, about 250,000 mourners attended a 3-hour funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in Rome's St. Peter's Square while about 1 million others gathered nearby. Among those in attendance were U.S. President George W. Bush and about 100 other world leaders.
In 2008, American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners after an FAA review found faulty wiring in nine of them. Over the next five days, American canceled about 3,300 flights, disrupting travel of more than 100,000 passengers.
In 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, or ISIS.
In 2021, archaeologists announced what they called the most important ancient Egyptian discovery since that of King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 -- that of the so-called "Lost Golden City" of Aten.
In 2022, SpaceX made history by launching the first private crew of astronauts to the International Space Station to conduct dozens of science experiments. The Ax-1 mission docked with the ISS the next day.
In 2024, a rare total solar eclipse, the first in seven years and the last in two decades over the continental United States, completed its trek across the sky, viewable throughout North America.
