TODAY IN HISTORY
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
1832 — A mob in Hiram, Ohio, attacked, tarred and feathered Mormon leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon. 1913 — New York’s Palace Theatre, the legendary home of vaudeville, opened on Broadway. 1934 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines. 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. 1958 — Rock ’n’ roll singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tennessee. 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. 1976 — The president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country’s military. 1989 — The supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil. 1999 — NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country. 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.” 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-yearold co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.
Five years ago
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.
Today’s Birthdays
Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is 98. Actor William Smith is 84. Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 78. Howard A. Borders of Cedartown is 77. Actor R. Lee Ermey is 73. Singer Nick Lowe is 68. Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 66. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 66. Comedian Louie Anderson is 64. Actor Robert Carradine is 63. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is 61. 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. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 47. Actor Jim Parsons is 44. Actress Alyson Hannigan is 43. NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 41. Actress Jessica Chastain is 40. Actor Amir Arison is 39. Actress Lake Bell is 38. Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is 27.