TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, DEC. 5, the 340th day of 2012. There are 26 days left in the year.

On this date in 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union announced a bilateral space agreement on exchanging weather data from satellites, mapping Earth’s geomagnetic field and cooperating in the experimental relay of communications.

In 1776, the first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

In 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, Austria, at age 35.

In 1848, President James K. Polk triggered the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.

In 1933, national Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

In 1979, feminist Sonia Johnson was formally excommunicated by the Mormon Church because of her outspoken support for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

In 1991, Richard Speck, who had murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, died in prison a day short of his 50th birthday.

In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Singer Little Richard is 80. Author Joan Didion is 78. Musician J.J. Cale is 74. Opera singer Jose Carreras is 66. Pop singer Jim Messina is 65. College Football Hall of Famer Jim Plunkett is 65. Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Art Monk is 55. Country singer Ty England is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Keri Hilson is 30. Actor Frankie Muniz is 27. Actor Ross Bagley is 24.