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Daily Almanac March 24, 2017

Today is Friday March 24, 2017 The 83rd day of 2017-- 282 left Sunrise this morning 7:05 a.m. set: 7:26 p.m. 12:21 hours of daylight Moonrise: 5:06 a.m. set: 4:02 p.m. . SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS TODAY: Today is :Natoinal Chocolate Covered Raisin Day, Red Nose Day and World T.B. Day This day in History: 1379 - The Gelderse war ended. 1545 - German Parliament opened in Worms. 1550 - France and England signed the Peace of Boulogne. 1629 - In Virginia, the first game law was passed in the American colonies. 1664 - A charter to colonize Rhode Island was granted to Roger Williams in London. 1720 - In Paris, banking houses closed due to financial crisis. 1765 - Britain passed the Quartering Act that required the American colonies to house 10,000 British troops in public and private buildings. 1792 - Benjamin West became the first American artist to be selected president of the Royal Academy of London. 1828 - The Philadelphia & Columbia Railway was authorized as the first state owned railway. 1832 - Mormon Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio. 1837 - Canada gave blacks the right to vote 1848 - A state of siege was proclaimed in Amsterdam. 1868 - Metropolitan Life Insurance Company was formed. 1878 - The British frigate Eurydice sank killing 300. 1880 - The first "hail insurance company" was incorporated in Connecticut. It was known as Tobacco Growers’ Mutual Insurance Company. 1882 - In Berlin, German scientist Robert Koch announced the discovery of the tuberculosis germ (bacillus). 1883 - The first telephone call between New York and Chicago took place. 1900 - Mayor Van Wyck of New York broke the ground for the New York subway tunnel that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn. 1900 - In New Jersey, the Carnegie Steel Corporation was formed. 1904 - Vice Adm. Tojo sank seven Russian ships as the Japanese strengthened their blockade of Port Arthur. 1905 - In Crete, a group led by Eleutherios Venizelos claimed independence from Turkey. 1906 - In Mexico, the Tehuantepec Istmian Railroad opened as a rival to the Panama Canal. 1906 - The "Census of the British Empire" revealed that England ruled 1/5 of the world. 1911 - In Denmark, penal code reform abolished corporal punishment. 1920 - The first U.S. coast guard air station was established at Morehead City, NC. 1924 - Greece became a republic. 1927 - Chinese Communists seized Nanking and break with Chiang Kai-shek over the Nationalist goals. 1932 - Belle Baker hosted a radio variety show from a moving train. It was the first radio broadcast from a train. 1934 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines. 1938 - The U.S. asked that all countries help refugees fleeing from the Nazis. 1944 - In Rome, The Gestapo rounded up innocent Italians and shot them to death in response to a bomb attack that killed 32 German policemen. Over 300 civilians were executed. 1946 - The Soviet Union announced that it was withdrawing its troops from Iran. 1947 - The U.S. Congress proposed the limitation of the presidency to two terms. 1954 - Britain opened trade talks with Hungary. 1955 - Tennessee Williams' play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" debuted on Broadway. 1955 - The first oil drill seagoing rig was put into service. 1960 - A U.S. appeals court ruled that the novel "Lady Chatterly’s Lover" was not obscene and could be sent through the mail. 1972 - Great Britain imposed direct rule over Northern Ireland. 1976 - The president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country's military. 1980 - In San Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero was shot to death by gunmen as he celebrated Mass. 1980 - "Nightline" with Ted Koppel premiered. 1982 - Soviet leader Leonid L. Brezhnev stated that Russia was willing to resume border talks with China. 1985 - Thousands demonstrated in Madrid against the NATO presence in Spain. 1988 - Former national security aides Oliver L. North and John M. Poindexter and businessmen Richard V. Secord and Albert Hakim pled innocent to Iran-Contra charges. 1989 - The Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels (11 million gallons) of oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound after it ran aground. 1989 - The U.S. decided to send humanitarian aid to the Contras. 1990 - Indian troops left Sri Lanka. 1991 - The African nation of Benin held its first presidential elections in about 30 years. 1993 - In Israel, Ezer Weizman, an advocate of peace with neighboring Arab nations, was elected President. 1995 - Russian forces surrounded Achkoi-Martan. It was one of the few remaining strongholds of rebels in Chechenia. 1995 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a welfare reform package that made the most changes in social programs since the New Deal. 1997 - The Australian parliament overturned the world's first and only euthanasia law. 1998 - In Jonesboro, AR, two young boys open fire at students from woods near a school. Four students and a teacher were killed and 10 others were injured. The two boys were 11 and 13 years old cousins. 1998 - A former FBI agent said papers found in James Earl Ray's car supports a conspiracy theory in the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 1999 - In Kenya, at least 31 people were killed when a passenger train derailed. Hundreds were injured. 1999 - NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Vojvodina). The attacks marked the first time in its 50-year history that NATO attacked a sovereign country. The bombings were in response to Serbia's refusal to sign a peace treaty with ethnic Albanians who were seeking independence for the province of Kosovo. 1999 - The 7-mile tunnel under Mont Blanc in France became an inferno after a truck carrying flour and margarine caught fire. At least 30 people were killed. 2001 - Apple Computer Inc's operating system MAC OS X went on sale. 2002 - Thieves stole five 17th century paintings from the Frans Hals Museum in the Dutch city of Haarlem. The paintings were worth about $2.6 million. The paintings were works by Jan Steen, Cornelis Bega, Adriaan van Ostade and Cornelis Dusart. 2005 - The government of Kyrgyzstan collapsed after opposition protesters took over President Askar Akayev's presidential compound and government offices. 2005 - Sandra Bullock received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2006 - In Spain, the Basque separatist group ETA announced a permanent cease-fire. 2014 - It was announced that the U.S. and its allies would exclude Russia from the G8 meeting and boycott a planned summit in Sochi in response to Russia's takeover of Crimea. IF TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY YOU SHARE IT WITH: Rufus King 1755 - American lawyer, politician and diplomat Antonio Rosmini-Serbati 1797 - Italian Roman Catholic priest and philosopher John Wesley Powell 1834 - U.S. soldier, geologist and explorer of American West William Morris 1834 - British craftsman, designer, writer, typographer Andrew Mellon 1855 - American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, U.S. Secretary of the Treasure (1921-1932) Harry Houdini 1874 - Magician, escape artist Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle 1887 - Actor, comedian, director, screenwriter Arthur Murray 1895 - Dance instructor, businessman Dorothy R. Stratton 1898 - Founded women's branch of the U.S. Coast Guard June Clark (Algeria Junius "June" Clark ) 1900 - Musician Joseph Barbera 1911 - Cartoonist Richard (Nicholas) Conte 1914 - Cartoonist Lawrence Ferlinghetti 1919 - Poet Gene Nelson (Leander Eugene Berg) 1920 - Dancer, actor, screenwriter and director Dave Appell 1922 - Musician (Applejacks) Norman Fell (Norman Noah Feld) 1924 - Actor Dario Fo 1926 - Playwright Byron Janis 1928 - Pianist Vanessa Brown 1928 - Actress Steve McQueen 1930 - Actor William Smith 1933 - Actor Billy Stewart 1937 - Musical artist Bob Mackie 1940 - Fashion designer R. Lee Ermey 1944 - Actor Curtis Hanson 1945 - Director Lee Oskar 1948 - Musician (War) Nick Lowe 1949 - Singer Dougie Thomson 1951 - Musician (Supertramp) Louie Anderson 1953 - Comedian Donna Pescow 1954 - Actress Robert Carradine 1954 - Actor Kelly LeBrock 1960 - Actress ("Weird Science") Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry 1961 - DJ (Ghostown DJs) Star Jones 1962 - TV host ("The View") Annabella Sciorra 1964 - Actress Lara Flynn Boyle 1970 - Actress Sharon Corr 1970 - Singer, musician (The Corrs) P.A. Pasemaster Mase 1970 - Rapper (De La Soul) Jim Parsons 1973 - Actor ("The Big Bang Theory") Alyson Hannigan 1974 - Actress ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "How I Met Your Mother") Peyton Manning 1976 - Football player Olivia Burnette (Olivia Nicole Burnette) 1977 - Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes 1990 - Actress ("The Whale Rider") Tags: almanac