FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2021

Today is the 260th day of 2021 and the 90th day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1787, delegations from 12 states voted to approve the proposed Constitution at Philadelphia’s Constitutional Convention.

In 1862, more than 23,000 people died or were wounded in the Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, resulting in the bloodiest single day in U.S. military history.

In 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin reached a historic accord at Camp David.

In 2001, the New York Stock Exchange reopened, having been closed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Rube Foster (1879-1930), baseball player/manager; William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), physician/poet; Hank Williams Sr. (1923-1953), singer-songwriter; George Blanda (1927-2010), football player; Anne Bancroft (1931-2005), actress; Ken Kesey (1935- 2001), author; Phil Jackson (1945- ), basketball player/coach; Baz Luhrmann (1962- ), filmmaker; Kyle Chandler (1965- ), actor; Jimmie Johnson (1975- ), race car driver; Flo Rida (1979- ), rapper; Alex Ovechkin (1985- ), hockey player; Patrick Mahomes (1995- ), football player.

TODAY’S FACT: NASA unveiled its first space shuttle, Enterprise, at a ceremony in Palmdale, California, on this day in 1976.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2004, Barry Bonds became just the third baseball player in history (after Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth) to hit 700 career home runs.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “I’d take a look at my own self in the mirror and wonder how it was possible that anybody could manage such an enormous thing as being what he was.” -- Ken Kesey, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 30 -- years a state of war had existed between Israel and Egypt when the Camp David accords were signed on this day in 1978.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 13) and full moon (Sept. 20).

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Today is the 261st day of 2021 and the 91st day of summer.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slave owners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to free states.

In 1947, the National Security Act took effect, establishing the Central Intelligence Agency and making the Air Force an independent branch of the U.S. military.

In 2014, a majority of voters in Scotland chose to remain part of the United Kingdom.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), author/lexicographer; Greta Garbo (1905-1990), actress; Agnes de Mille (1905-1993), dancer/choreographer; Joe Kubert (1926-2012), writer/illustrator; Scotty Bowman (1933- ), hockey coach; Fred Willard (1939-2020), actor/comedian; Frankie Avalon (1940- ), singer; Rick Pitino (1952- ), basketball coach; James Gandolfini (1961-2013), actor; Aisha Tyler (1970- ), actress; Lance Armstrong (1971- ), cyclist; Jada Pinkett Smith (1971- ), actress; Jason Sudeikis (1975- ), actor/comedian.

TODAY’S FACT: In 2009, the final episode of the soap opera “Guiding Light” aired, ending its 72-year broadcast run on radio and TV.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1999, Sammy Sosa became the first Major League Baseball player to hit more than 60 home runs in two seasons.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” -- Samuel Johnson

TODAY’S NUMBER: $1 billion -- donation pledged “to United Nations causes” by media mogul Ted Turner on this day in 1997. Turner’s United Nations Foundation donated its billionth dollar in 2006, $600 million of which came from Turner himself.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Sept. 13) and full moon (Sept. 20).