This day in history

Actress Kirsten Dunst turns 30 years old today.

Today is Monday, April 30, the 121st day of 2012. There are 245 days left in the year.

Todays Highlight in History:

On April 30, 1812, Louisiana (formerly the Territory of Orleans) became the 18th state of the Union.

On this date:

In 1789, George Washington took office in New York as the first president of the United States.

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.

In 1900, engineer John Luther Casey Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a train wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in a successful effort to save the passengers.

In 1968, New York City police forcibly removed student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.

In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, along with Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean.

In 1997, ABC-TV aired the coming out episode of the situation comedy

Ellen in which the title character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, acknowledged her homosexuality.

Five years ago: A British judge sentenced five al-Qaida-linked men, all British citizens, to life in prison for plotting to attack London targets, including a nightclub, power plants and shopping mall with bombs.

One year ago: A Libyan official said Moammar Gadhafi had escaped a NATO missile strike in Tripoli that killed one of his sons and three young grandchildren. (There have been conflicting accounts about whether Gadhafis relatives even died in the airstrike.)

Todays Birthdays: Actress Cloris Leachman is 86. Singer Willie Nelson is 79. Actor Gary Collins is 74. Singer Bobby Vee is 69. Sing! er Merri ll Osmond is 59. Movie director Jane Campion is 58. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is 53. Actor Paul Gross is 53. Basketballs Isaiah Thomas is 51. Country musician Robert Reynolds (The Mavericks) is 50. Actor Adrian Pasdar is 47. Rapper Turbo B (Snap) is 45. Rock musician Chris Henderson (3 Doors Down) is 41. Country singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson is 41. Actress Lisa Dean Ryan is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer Akon is 39. Actor Johnny Galecki is 37. Singer-musician Cole Deggs (Cole Deggs and the Lonesome) is 36. Actor Kunal Nayyar is 31. Rapper Lloyd Banks is 30. Country singer Tyler Wilkinson (The Wilkinsons) is 28. Actress Dianna Agron is 26.