TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Tuesday, March 12, the 72nd day of 2024. There are 294 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY

On March 12, 1955, legendary jazz saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker died in New York at age 34.

1864 — Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assumed command as General-in-Chief of the Union armies in the Civil War.

1912 — The Girl Scouts of the USA had its beginnings as Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Ga., founded the first American troop of the Girl Guides.

2003 — Elizabeth Smart, the 15-yearold girl who vanished from her bedroom nine months earlier, was found alive in a Salt Lake City suburb with two drifters, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee. (Mitchell is serving a life sentence; Barzee was released from prison in September 2018.)

2020 — As the Coronavirus crisis deepened in the US, the stock market had its biggest drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987, the NCAA canceled its basketball tournaments after earlier planning to play in empty arenas and the NHL joined the NBA in suspending play.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Politician, diplomat and civil rights activist Andrew Young is 92. Actor Barbara Feldon is 91. Actor-singer Liza Minnelli is 78. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, is 77. Singer-songwriter James Taylor is 76. Former Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND, is 76. Rock singer-musician Bill Payne (Little Feat) is

75. Actor Jon Provost (TV: “Lassie”) is 74. Author Carl Hiaasen is 71. Rock musician Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) is 68. Actor Lesley Manville is 68. Actor Jerry Levine is 67. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jackson Five) is 67. Actor Jason Beghe is 64. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 64. Actor Titus Welliver is 62. Former MLB All-Star Darryl Strawberry is 62. Actor Julia Campbell is

61. Actor Jake Weber is 61. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is 56. Actor Aaron Eckhart is 56. CNN reporter Jake Tapper is

55. Rock musician Graham Coxon is 55. Actor Rhys Coiro is 45. Country singer Holly Williams is 43. Actor Samm Levine is 41. Actor Jaimie Alexander is 40.