The Associated Press
Today is Friday, March 24, the 83rd day of 2017. There are 282 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
- On March 24, 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.
On this date:
- In 1832, a mob in Hiram, Ohio, attacked, tarred and feathered Mormon leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.
- In 1913, New York’s Palace Theatre, the legendary home of vaudeville, opened on Broadway.
- In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines.
- In 1944, in occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that had killed 32 German soldiers.
- In 1958, rock-and-roll singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tennessee.
- In 1965, Ranger 9, a lunar probe launched three days earlier by NASA, crashed into the moon (as planned) after sending back more than 5,800 video images.
- In 1976, the president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country’s military. British war hero Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery, 88, died in Alton, Hampshire, England.
- In 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez (vahl-DEEZ’) ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil.
- In 1997, at the 69th Annual Academy Awards, “The English Patient” won best picture and director (Anthony Minghella); Frances McDormand won best actress for “Fargo” while Geoffrey Rush won best actor for “Shine.”
- In 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country. Thirty-nine people were killed when fire erupted in the Mont Blanc tunnel in France and burned for two days.
- In 2002, at the 74th Academy Awards, Halle Berry became the first black actress to win an Oscar for a leading role for her work in “Monster’s Ball,” while Denzel Washington became the second black actor, after Sidney Poitier, to win in the best actor category for “Training Day.” ‘’A Beautiful Mind" won four Oscars, including best picture and best director for Ron Howard.
- In 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320, crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; investigators said the jetliner was deliberately downed by the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.
- Ten years ago: The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to impose new sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium. Japan’s Miki Ando won the women’s title at the World Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo, leading a 1-2 finish for the host country with Mao Asada second.
- Five years ago: Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary, beating front-runner Mitt Romney in yet another conservative Southern state. Nine people, including a woman celebrating her 26th birthday and seven children at a family slumber party, died when fire tore through a two-story home in Charleston, West Virginia. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, with a long history of cardiovascular problems, underwent a heart transplant at a Virginia hospital.
- One year ago: A U.N. war crimes court convicted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of genocide and nine other charges for orchestrating a campaign of terror that left 100,000 people dead during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia; Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill making Indiana the second state to ban abortions because of fetal genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome. Comedian Garry Shandling died at age 66; writer Earl Hamner Jr., creator of “The Waltons,” died at age 92.
Today’s Birthdays:
Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is 98. Actor William Smith is 84. Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 78. Actor R. Lee Ermey is 73. Former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is 70. Rock musician Lee Oskar is 69. Singer Nick Lowe is 68. Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 66. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 66. Comedian Louie Anderson is 64. Actress Donna Pescow is 63. Actor Robert Carradine is 63. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is 61. Actress Kelly LeBrock is 57. Rhythm-and-blues DJ Rodney “Kool Kollie” Terry (Ghostown DJs) is 56. TV personality Star Jones is 55. Country-rock musician Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) is 53. Actor Peter Jacobson is 52. Rock singer-musician Sharon Corr (The Corrs) is 47. Actress Lauren Bowles is 47. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 47. Rapper Maceo (AKA P.A. Pasemaster Mase) is 47. Actress Megyn Price is 46. Actor Jim Parsons is 44. Christian rock musician Chad Butler (Switchfoot) is 43. Actress Alyson Hannigan is 43. NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 41. Actress Olivia Burnette is 40. Actress Jessica Chastain is 40. Actor Amir Arison is 39. Actress Lake Bell is 38. Rock musician Benj Gershman (O.A.R.) is 37. Neo-soul musician Jesse Phillips (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 37. Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is 27.
Thought for Today:
“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will — his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.” — Albert Schweitzer, German-born missionary and Nobel laureate (1875-1965).
