National News Today in History Today is Wednesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2021. There are 177 days left in the year. by Associated Press Jul. 6 2021 @ 7:54pm Today is Wednesday, July 7, the 188th day of 2021. There are 177 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On July 7, 1981, President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. On this date: In 1846, U.S. annexation of California was proclaimed at Monterey after the surrender of a Mexican garrison. In 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C. for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln: Lewis Powell (aka Lewis Payne), David Herold, George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt, the first woman to be executed by the federal government.