TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Sunday, April 19, the 110th day of 2020. There are 256 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On April 19, 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; about 80 people, including two dozen children and sect leader David Koresh, were killed.

On this date:

■ In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began with the battles of Lexington and Concord.

■ In 1933, the United States went off the gold standard.

■ In 1994, a Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.

■ In 1995, a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. (Bomber Timothy McVeigh, who prosecutors said had planned the attack as revenge for the Waco siege of two years earlier, was convicted of federal murder charges and executed in 2001.)

Five years ago: Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died a week after suffering a spinal cord injury in the back of a Baltimore police van while he was handcuffed and shackled. (Six police officers were charged; three were acquitted and the city’s top prosecutor eventually dropped the three remaining cases.)

One year ago: The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Democrat Jerrold Nadler of New York, issued a subpoena for the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe and the underlying materials. A fire service official in Paris said architects and construction workers had stabilized the damaged structure of Notre Dame cathedral, four days after a fire ravaged the iconic building.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Elinor Donahue is 83. Rock musician Alan Price (The Animals) is 78. Singer-songwriter Dar Williams is 53. Actress Ashley Judd is 52. Actress Kate Hudson is 41. Tennis player Maria Sharapova is 33. NHL forward Patrik Laine is 32.

Thought for Today: “The crisis you have to worry about most is the one you don’t see coming.” — Mike Mansfield, American statesman (1903-2001).