Good morning. Today is the 26th day of the year. It is the birth anniversary (1880) of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander of Allied forces in the Pacific during World War II. MacArthur served as commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade in World War I, leading it in the St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Sedan offensives. He is remembered for his “I shall return” prediction when he was forced out of the Philippines by the Japanese during the early days of World War II, a promise he fulfilled.
 

Well-known people who were born today include political activist Angela Davis, Hall of Fame hockey player Wayne Gretzky, singer-musician Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!, rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres.
 

This evening at 6 p.m., the Landmarks/Land Use Committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6 will meet at the Prospect Park Residence, 1 Prospect Park West. On the agenda will be an application for a new building at 2-4 Strong Place and a review of the Department of City Planning’s Zone Green Amendment, which seeks to remove impediments to “green” retrofits of existing buildings. …

Starting today, motorists will have to endure multiple daily bridge lifts at the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge. The reason is a dredging project being conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Jamaica Bay, which will necessitate the use of many barges coming and going from the dredging site. …

This evening at 6 p.m. at Pratt Institute, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries will deliver his State of the District address. This will be the assemblyman’s fifth such speech since he took office in 2007.
 

Today’s News
 

Brooklyn-born actor James Farentino, who appeared in scores of movies, plays and TV shows, died of heart failure in Los Angeles Tuesday at age 73. Farentino first appeared on Broadway in a 1961 production of Night of the Iguana and later played Stanley Kowalski in a 1973 production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

 

The NYPD is investigating the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man in Brooklyn. Police say the shooting occurred on 54th Street and Fifth Avenue around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Responding officers discovered the victim with a gunshot wound to the head. The man was not immediately identified. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation is continuing.

 

According to Playlist, Spike Lee’s  next project might be the previously shelved Brooklyn Loves MJ, a Fort Greene-based drama about two brothers that takes place on the day that Michael Jackson died in 2009. The film was supposed to have been made before the Lee’s xcurrent offering, Red Hook Summer, but the filmmaker and Knicks fan said that finances were a problem.