NEA DATEBOOK

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1788, a fire destroyed most of the city of New Orleans.

In 1963, the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was closed.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympic Games.

In 2006, the social media site Twitter was founded.

In 2011, a team of over 30 surgeons and other physicians at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston announced the completion of the first full face transplant in the United States.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Benito Juarez (1806-1872), Mexican president; Florenz Ziegfeld (1867-1932), theater producer; Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978), author; Walter Lincoln Hawkins (1911-1992), scientist/inventor; Solomon Burke (1940-2010), singer-songwriter; Timothy Dalton (1946- ), actor; Gary Oldman (1958- ), actor; Ayrton Senna (19601994), race car driver; Matthew Broderick (1962- ), actor; Rosie O’Donnell (1962- ), actress/talk show host; Ronaldinho (1980- ), soccer player; Adrian Peterson (1985- ), football player; Scott Eastwood (1986- ), actor.

TODAY’S FACT: Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones completed the first nonstop hot air balloon flight around the world on this day in 1999.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1989, an investigative report by Sports Illustrated revealed evidence that Major League Baseball playermanager Pete Rose had illegally gambled on baseball games.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Seventy is wormwood, / Seventy is gall. / But it’s better to be 70 / Than not alive at all.” — Phyllis McGinley

TODAY’S NUMBER: 14 — attempted escapes, involving 36 inmates, from Alcatraz Penitentiary over the 29 years that the prison operated. None of the attempts are believed to have been successful.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 16) and full moon (March 25).