Today is Wednesday, April 8, the 98th day of 2026. There are 267 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth's home run record that had stood since 1935. (Aaron would go on to hit 755 career home runs, only to be surpassed in 2007 by Barry Bonds, who finished his career with a record 762 that still stands).
Also on this date:
In 1820, the Venus de Milo statue, likely dating to the 2nd century B.C., was discovered by a farmer on the Greek island of Milos.
In 1864, the U.S. Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)
In 1911, an explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Alabama, claimed the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts leased out from prisons.
In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, providing for election of U.S. senators by state residents as opposed to state legislatures.
In 1962, Cuba announced that 1,200 Cuban exiles tried for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion were convicted of treason and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In 1970, Israeli warplanes bombed a primary school in the Egyptian village of Bahr Al-Baqar, killing at least 30 students and wounding dozens more. Israeli officials later asserted the site was a military target though Egypt insisted nearby buildings only housed agricultural machinery.
In 1990, Ryan White, the teenager whose battle with AIDS drew national attention and led to greater understanding and destigmatization of those suffering from the disease, died in Indianapolis at age 18.
In 1992, tennis great Arthur Ashe announced at a New York news conference that he had AIDS, having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion in 1983.
In 2010, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty in Prague.
In 2020, a 76-day lockdown was lifted in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the COVID-19 pandemic began.
In 2024, a total solar eclipse raced across North America, darkening skies along a path from Mexico through the United States and into parts of Canada. The eclipse was viewed by millions of people and would be the last coast-to-coast solar spectacle on the continent until 2045.
Today's Birthdays: Journalist Seymour Hersh is 89. Songwriter-producer Leon Huff is 84. Rock musician Steve Howe (Yes) is 79. Author Barbara Kingsolver is 71. Actor John Schneider is 66. Guitarist Izzy Stradlin (Guns N' Roses) is 64. Singer Julian Lennon is 63. Actor Dean Norris is 63. Actor Robin Wright is 60. Actor Patricia Arquette is 58. Actor Taylor Kitsch is 45. Boxer Gennady Golovkin is 44. Actor Shelby Young is 34. NFL wide receiver CeeDee Lamb is 27. Actor Skai Jackson is 24. Rapper Sha EK is 23. Actor Sophie Grace is 20.