Today In History

Today is Wednesday, July 3, the 184th day of 2019. There are 181 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1976: Israel launched its daring mission to rescue 106 passengers and Air France crew members being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by pro-Palestinian hijackers; the commandos succeeded in rescuing all but four of the hostages.

ON THIS DATE

› 1775: Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

› 1863: The three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania ended in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops failed to breach Union positions during an assault known as Pickett’s Charge.

› 1890: Idaho became the 43rd state of the Union.

› 1987: British millionaire Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand became the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic, parachuting into the sea as their craft went down off the Scottish coast.

› 1996: Russians went to the polls to reelect Boris Yeltsin president over his Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov in a runoff.

› 2013: Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was overthrown by the military after just one year by the same kind of Arab Spring uprising that had brought the Islamist leader to power.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Playwright Tom Stoppard is 82. Writer-producer Jay Tarses is 80. Actor Michael Cole (TV: “The Mod Squad”) is 79. Rock singer-musician Paul Barrere (Little Feat) is 71. Actress Jan Smithers is 70. Actor Bruce Altman is 64. Talk show host Montel Williams is 63. Country singer Aaron Tippin is 61. Rock musician Vince Clarke (Erasure) is 59. Rock musician Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies) is 50. Actress-singer Shawnee Smith is 50. Actress-singer Audra McDonald is

49. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is 48. Actor Patrick Wilson is

46. Country singer Trent Tomlinson is 44. Actress/ comedian Jule Klausner is 41. Actress Elizabeth Hendrickson is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Tonia Tash (Divine) is 40. Actress Shoshannah Stern is 39. Rock singer-songwriter Elle King is 30. Actor Grant Rosenmeyer is 28. Actress Kelsey Batelaan is 24.