Today in History
Today is Thursday, March 24, the 83rd day of 2022. There are 282 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On March 24, 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez (vahl-DEEZ’) ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking an estimated 11 million gallons of crude oil.
On this date:
In 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.
In 1832, a mob in Hiram, Ohio, attacked, tarred and feathered Mormon leaders Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.
In 1882, German scientist Robert Koch (kohk) announced in Berlin that he had discovered the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.
In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines.
In 1976, the president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country’s military.
In 1980, one of El Salvador’s most respected Roman Catholic Church leaders, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, was shot to death by a sniper as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador.
In 1995, after 20 years, British soldiers stopped routine patrols in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country. Thirty-nine people were killed when fire erupted in the Mont Blanc tunnel in France and burned for two days.
In 2010, keeping a promise he’d made to anti-abortion Democratic lawmakers to assure passage of his historic health care legislation, President Barack Obama signed an executive order against using federal funds to pay for elective abortions covered by private insurance.
In 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320, crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board; investigators said the jetliner was deliberately downed by the 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz.
In 2016, a U.N. war crimes court convicted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of genocide and nine other charges for orchestrating a campaign of terror that left 100,000 people dead during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia; Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison. (The sentence was later increased to life in prison.)
In 2020, the International Olympic Committee announced that the Summer Olympics in Tokyo would be postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus.
Ten years ago: Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary, beating front-runner Mitt Romney in yet another conservative Southern state. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, with a long history of cardiovascular problems, underwent a heart transplant at a Virginia hospital.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump and GOP leaders yanked their bill to repeal “Obamacare” off the House floor when it became clear the measure would fail badly. Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was convicted of hushing up child sexual abuse allegations in 2001 against Jerry Sandusky, whose arrest a decade later blew up into a major scandal for the university. (After losing an appeal, Spanier served nearly two months in jail.)
One year ago: The Senate confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health; Levine was the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. Virginia, the state with the second-highest number of executions, became the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty. Jessica Walter, whose roles included a scheming matriarch on TV’s “Arrested Development” and a stalker in the film “Play Misty for Me,” died at 80. “Nomadland” cemented its Oscar front-runner status, winning the top award at the Producers Guild of America Awards.
Today’s Birthdays: Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 83. Former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is 75. Rock musician Lee Oskar is 74. Singer Nick Lowe is 73. Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 71. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 71. Actor Donna Pescow is 68. Actor Robert Carradine is 68. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, is 68. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is 66. Actor Kelly LeBrock is 62. TV personality Star Jones is 60. Country-rock musician Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) is 58. Actor Peter Jacobson is 57. Rock singer-musician Sharon Corr (The Corrs) is 52. Actor Lauren Bowles is 52. Actor Lara Flynn Boyle is 52. Rapper Maceo (AKA P.A. Pasemaster Mase) is 52. Actor Megyn Price is 51. Actor Jim Parsons is 49. Christian rock musician Chad Butler (Switchfoot) is 48. Actor Alyson Hannigan is 48. Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 46. Actor Amanda Brugel (TV: “The Handmaid’s Tale”) is 45. Actor Olivia Burnette is 45. Actor Jessica Chastain is 45. Actor Amir Arison is 44. Actor Lake Bell is 43. Rock musician Benj Gershman (O.A.R.) is 42. Neo-soul musician Jesse Phillips (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) is 42. Actor Philip Winchester (TV: “Strike Back”) is 41. Dancer Val Chmerkovskiy is 36. Actor Keisha Castle-Hughes is 32.
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