TODAY IN HISTORY

1776

Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

1932

Mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, entered the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

1945

During World War II, German forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany agreed to surrender.

1961

The first group of “Freedom Riders” left Washington, D.C. to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

1968

The Oroville Dam in Northern California was dedicated by Gov. Ronald Reagan; the 770-foot-tall earth-filled structure, a pet project of Reagan’s predecessor, Pat Brown, remains the tallest dam in the United States, but was also the scene of a near disaster in February 2017 when two spillways collapsed, threatening for a time to flood parts of three counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Birthdays

Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson musical family, is

91. Jazz musician Ron Carter is 84. Pulitzer Prize-winning political commentator George Will is 80. Country singer Stella Parton is

72. Irish musician Darryl Hunt (The Pogues) is

71. TV personality and fashion designer Kimora Lee Simmons is 46.