TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, MARCH 18, the 77th day of 2023. There are 288 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany’s war against France and Britain. In 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act of 1765. In 1925, the Tri-State Tornado struck southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana, resulting in some 700 deaths. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which was put in charge of interning Japanese Americans, with Milton S. Eisenhower (the younger brother of Dwight D. Eisenhower) as its director. In 2002, Brittanie Cecil died two days short of her 14th birthday after being hit in the head by a puck at a game between the host Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames; it was apparently the first such fan fatality in NHL history. In 2020, the U.S. and Canada agreed to temporarily close their shared border to nonessential travel in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Jazz musician Bill Frisell is 72. Alt-country musician Karen Grotberg (The Jayhawks) and movie writer-director Luc Besson are 64. Actor Geoffrey Owens is 62. Actor Thomas Ian Griffith, singer-songwriter James McMurtry and TV personality Mike Rowe are 61. Singer-actor Vanessa L. Williams is 60. Rapper-actor-talk show host Queen Latifah is 53. Rock singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5) is 44. Actor Lily Collins is 34. Actor-dancer Julia Goldani Telles is 28. Actor Ciara Bravo is 26. Actor Blake Garrett Rosenthal is 19.