Saturday, March 25, 2023 Today is the 84th day of 2023 and the sixth day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1634, the first English colonists arrived at St. Clement’s Island in Maryland to establish the settlement of St. Mary’s.

In 1807, the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.

In 1965, a 50-mile civil rights march led by Martin Luther King Jr., which began four days earlier in Selma, Alabama, ended in Montgomery.

In 1994, the United States withdrew its last troops from Somalia.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Bela Bartok (1881-1945), composer; Howard Cosell (19181995), journalist/sportscaster; Flannery O’Connor (19251964), author; Jim Lovell (1928), astronaut; Gloria Steinem (1934- ), writer/activist; Aretha Franklin (1942-2018), singersongwriter; Elton John (1947), singer-songwriter/musician; Sarah Jessica Parker (1965), actress; Sheryl Swoopes (1971- ), basketball player; Wladimir Klitschko (1976- ), boxer; Danica Patrick (1982- ), race car driver; Ryan Lewis (1988- ), rapper/producer.

TODAY’S FACT: Percy Bysshe Shelley was expelled from the University of Oxford on this day in 1811 for publishing a pamphlet in favor of atheism.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1958, Sugar Ray Robinson defeated Carmen Basilio in a rematch, regaining the middleweight title and becoming the first boxer to win a title five times.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are willing to undergo the effort needed to understand it.” -- Flannery O’Connor, “Mystery and Manners”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 40 height (in feet) of the stone cross erected on St. Clement’s Island in 1934 in celebration of Maryland’s 300th anniversary.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (March 21) and first quarter moon (March 28).

Sunday, March 26, 2023

Today is the 85th day of 2023 and the seventh day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1830, the Book of Mormon went on sale at a bookstore in Palmyra, New York.

In 1979, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

In 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 victims of the Heaven’s Gate religious cult’s mass suicide in a mansion near San Diego, California.

In 1999, a Michigan jury found Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for euthanizing a terminally ill patient.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Frost (1874-1963), poet; Viktor Frankl (19051997), psychotherapist/ author; Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), playwright; Sandra Day O’Connor (1930- ), former U.S. Supreme Court justice; Leonard Nimoy (19312015), actor; Alan Arkin (1934), actor; James Caan (19402022), actor; Richard Dawkins (1941- ), biologist/author; Diana Ross (1944- ), singer; Steven Tyler (1948- ), singer- songwriter; Martin Short (1950- ), actor; John Stockton (1962- ), basketball player; Keira Knightley (1985- ), actress.

TODAY’S FACT: The term “gerrymander” was first printed on this day in 1812 by the Boston Gazette; it described the shape of one of the election districts as redrawn in a bill signed by then-governor of Massachusetts Elbridge Gerry.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans defeated the Montreal Canadiens 9-1 in Game 4 of the hockey championship series, becoming the first American team to win the Stanley Cup.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” -- Robert Frost TODAY’S NUMBER: 1.5 million -- number of Mormons in Mexico, the country with the second-most Mormons after the United States.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (March 21) and first quarter moon (March 28).

Monday, March 27, 2023

Today is the 86th day of 2023 and the eighth day of spring.

TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1794, the U.S. Congress passed the Act to Provide a Naval Armament, establishing the force that would become the U.S. Navy.

In 1886, Apache leader Geronimo surrendered to U.S. forces at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.

In 1915, Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, was quarantined on North Brother Island in New York City.

In 1964, the strongest recorded earthquake in U.S. history (magnitude 9.2) struck Alaska, killing more than 120 people.

In 1998, the Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra, a medication to combat impotence.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923), scientist/inventor; Henry Royce (1863-1933), founder of Rolls-Royce Limited; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (18861969), architect; Gloria Swanson (1899-1983), actress; Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990), singer; Quentin Tarantino (1963- ), filmmaker; Mariah Carey (1969- ), singer-songwriter; Nathan Fillion (1971- ), actor; Fergie (1975- ), singer-songwriter; Buster Posey (1987- ), baseball player.

TODAY’S FACT: Silver prices plummeted on this day in 1980 when brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt attempted to corner the silver market and failed.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1939, Oregon defeated Ohio State 46-33 to win the first NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don’t even notice.” -- Sarah Vaughan TODAY’S NUMBER: 5 consecutive No. 1 singles for Mariah Carey, beginning with her August 1990 debut single, “Vision of Love,” and ending with her October 1991 single, “Emotions.” Carey is the only artist in history to reach No. 1 with her first five singles.

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (March 21) and first quarter moon (March 28).