Today’s highlight in history

Today is Monday, March 20, the 79th day of 2023. There are 286 days left in the year.

On March 20, 1996, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez of first-degree murder in the shotgun slayings of their wealthy parents. (They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)

On this date

In 1413, England’s King Henry IV died; he was succeeded by Henry V.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s influential novel about slavery, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” was first published in book form after being serialized.

In 1854, the Republican Party of the United States was founded by slavery opponents at a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wis.

In 1995, in Tokyo, 12 people were killed, more than 5,500 others sickened when packages containing the deadly chemical sarin were leaked on five separate subway trains by Aum Shinrikyo cult members.

In 2014, President Barack Obama ordered economic sanctions against nearly two dozen members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, raising the stakes in an East-West showdown over Ukraine.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Hal Linden is 92. Former

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney is 84. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley is 78. Singer-musician Ranger Doug (Riders in the Sky) is 77. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr is 75. Singer-musician Marcia Ball is 74. Musician Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 73. Musician Jimmie Vaughan is 72. Actor Amy Aquino is 66. Director Spike Lee is 66. Actor Theresa Russell is 66. Actor Holly Hunter is 65. Musician Slim Jim Phantom (The Stray Cats) is 62. Model Kathy Ireland is 60. Actor Cedric Yarbrough is 50.