Today in History
Today is Sunday, March 10, the 70th day of 2024. There are 296 days left in the year. Daylight saving time returns at 2 a.m. local time.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On March 10, 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in Memphis, Tennessee, to assassinating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
ON THIS DATE
› 1496: Christopher Columbus concluded his second visit to the Western Hemisphere as he left Hispaniola for Spain.
› 1785: Thomas Jefferson was appointed America’s minister to France, succeeding Benjamin Franklin.
› 1864: President Abraham Lincoln assigned Ulysses S. Grant, who had just received his commission as lieutenant-general, to the command of the Armies of the United States.
› 1913: Former slave, abolitionist and Underground Railroad “conductor” Harriet Tubman died in Auburn, New York; she was in her 90s.
› 1965: Neil Simon’s play “The Odd Couple,” starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney, opened on Broadway.
› 1988: Pop singer Andy Gibb died in Oxford, England, at age 30 of heart inflammation.
› 2019: A Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from the capital, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.
› 2021: The House gave final congressional approval to a landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill against the opposition of Republicans, while the Senate confirmed Merrick Garland to be U.S. attorney general with a strong bipartisan vote.
› 2022: Civilians trapped inside the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol desperately scrounged for food and fuel as Russian forces kept up their bombardment amid international condemnation over an airstrike a day earlier that killed three people at a maternity hospital.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Bluegrass/country singer-musician Norman Blake is 86. Actor Chuck Norris is 84. Playwright David Rabe is 84. Former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell is 77. TV personality/businesswoman Barbara Corcoran (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 75. Actor Aloma Wright is 74. Blues musician Ronnie Earl (Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters) is 71. Actor Sharon Stone is 66. Rock musician Gail Greenwood is 64. Music producer Rick Rubin is 61. Britain’s Prince Edward is 60. Actor Paget Brewster is 55. Actor Jon Hamm is 53. Rapper-producer Timbaland is 52. Actor Cristián de la Fuente is 50. Rock musician Jerry Horton is 49. Actor Jeff Branson is 47. Singer Robin Thicke is 47. Contemporary Christian singer Michael Barnes (Red) is 45. Actor Edi Gathegi is 45. Actor Thomas Middleditch is 42. Country singer Carrie Underwood is 41. Actor Olivia Wilde is 40. R&B singer Emeli Sandé is 37. Country singer Rachel Reinert is 35. Country musician Jared Hampton (LANCO) is 33. Actor Emily Osment is 32.