Today is Thursday, April 28, the 118th day of 2011. There are 247 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On April 28, 1789, the mutiny on the HMS Bounty took place as the crew of the British ship set Capt. William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. (Bligh and most of the men with him managed to reach Timor in 47 days.)

On this date

In 1758, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, was born in Westmoreland County, Va.

In 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1817, the United States and Britain signed the Rush-Bagot Treaty, which limited the number of naval vessels allowed in the Great Lakes.

In 1918, Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the archduke’s wife, Sophie, died in prison of tuberculosis.

In 1945, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed by Italian partisans as they attempted to flee the country.

In 1952, war with Japan officially ended as a treaty signed in San Francisco the year before took effect. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Supreme Allied commander in Europe; he was succeeded by Gen. Matthew Ridgway.

In 1967, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the Army, the same day Gen. William Westmoreland told Congress the U.S. “would prevail in Vietnam.”

In 1974, a federal jury in New York acquitted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans of charges in connection with a secret $200,000 contribution to President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign from financier Robert Vesco.

In 1988, a flight attendant was killed and more than 60 people were injured when part of the roof of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 tore off during a flight from Hilo to Honolulu.

Ten years ago

A Russian rocket lifted off from Central Asia bearing the first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to the international space station.

Five years ago

Storms battered eastern Texas with wind up to 100 miles an hour and hail the size of baseballs. Attorneys for Rush Limbaugh, who’d been accused by Florida prosecutors of “doctor shopping” for painkillers, announced a deal under which a single prescription fraud charge against the talk show host would be dismissed after 18 months provided he stayed drug-free and didn’t violate any laws. Ellen DeGeneres swept the Daytime Emmy awards, winning best talk show host for the second time and earning talk show honors for the third consecutive year.

One year ago

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry said a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was worse than officials had believed, and that the federal government was offering to help industry giant BP contain the slick threatening the U.S. shoreline. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown committed a gaffe during his country’s short election campaign when an open microphone caught him slamming a voter he’d been trying to win over.

Today’s Birthdays

Actress-singer Ann-Margret is 70. “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno is 61. Rock musician Chuck Leavell is 59. Actor Chris Young is 40. Rapper Big Gipp is 38. Actor Jorge Garcia is 38. Actress Elisabeth Rohm is 38. Actress Penelope Cruz is 37. Actress Jessica Alba is 30.

Thought for Today

“It takes a long time to understand nothing.”

— Edward Dahlberg,

American author and critic (1900-77)