Today is Tuesday, March 17, the 76th day of 2015. There are 289 days left in the year. This is St. Patrick’s Day.
Today’s highlight:
On March 17, 1762, New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade.
On this date:
In 1776, British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.
In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed the first king of a united Italy.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt first likened crusading journalists to a man with “the muckrake in his hand” in a speech to the Gridiron Club in Washington.
In 1912, the Camp Fire Girls organization was incorporated in Washington, D.C., two years to the day after it was founded in Thetford, Vermont. (The group is now known as Camp Fire USA.)
In 1943, the Taoiseach of Ireland, Eamon de Valera, delivered a radio speech about “The Ireland That We Dreamed Of.”
In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, “californium.”
In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.
In 1966, a U.S. midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb which had fallen from an American bomber into the Mediterranean off Spain.
In 1969, Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel.
In 1970, the United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council. (The U.S. killed a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.)
In 1988, Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing 727, crashed after takeoff into a mountain in Colombia, killing all 143 people on board.
In 1995, Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino maid, was hanged in Singapore for murder, despite international pleas to spare her.
Ten years ago: Baseball players told Congress that steroids were a problem in the sport; stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified they hadn’t used them while Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had. (McGwire owned up to steroid use in January 2010.) Rapper Lil’ Kim was convicted of lying to a grand jury about a shootout outside a New York radio station. (Lil’ Kim was sentenced to 366 days in prison; she served nearly 10 months.) Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland won the men’s title at the World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow. Diplomat and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian George F. Kennan died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 101.
Five years ago: Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter became the first state chief executive to sign a measure requiring his attorney general to sue Congress if it passed health reforms requiring residents to buy insurance (a mostly symbolic action on Idaho’s part, since federal laws supersede those of the states). Michael Jordan became the first ex-player to become a majority owner in the league as the NBA’s Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan’s $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson. Singer-guitarist Alex Chilton of Big Star, 59, died in New Orleans.
One year ago: Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as an “independent and sovereign country,” ignoring sanctions imposed by the United States and European countries. Fashion designer L’Wren Scott, 49, was found dead in New York, a suicide. British cinematographer Oswald Morris, who’d won an Oscar for “Fiddler on the Roof,” died in Dorset, England, at age 98.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Gabriele Ferzetti is 90. The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 82. Former NASA astronaut Ken Mattingly is 79. Rock musician Paul Kantner is 74. Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly is 72. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful) is 71. Former NSA Director and former CIA Director Michael Hayden is 70. Rock musician Harold Brown (War; Lowrider Band) is 69. Actor Patrick Duffy is 66. Actor Kurt Russell is 64. Country singer Susie Allanson is 63. Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 61. Actor Mark Boone Jr. is 60. Country singer Paul Overstreet is 60. Actor Gary Sinise is 60. Actor Christian Clemenson is 57. Former basketball and baseball player Danny Ainge is 56. Actor Arye Gross is 55. Actress Vicki Lewis is 55. Actor Casey Siemaszko is 54. Writer-director Rob Sitch is 53. Actor Rob Lowe is 51. Rock singer Billy Corgan is 48. Rock musician Van Conner (Screaming Trees) is 48. Actor Mathew St. Patrick is 47. Actor Yanic Truesdale is 46. Rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur is 43. Soccer player Mia Hamm is 43. Rock musician Caroline Corr (The Corrs) is 42. Actress Amelia Heinle is 42. Country singer Keifer Thompson (Thompson Square) is 42. Actress Marisa Coughlan is 41. Rapper Swifty (D12) is 40. Actress Natalie Zea (zee) is 40. Actress Brittany Daniel is 39. Pop/rock singer/songwriter Hozier is 25. Actress Eliza Hope Bennett is 23. Actor Flynn Morrison is 10.
Thought for today: “Beagan agus a ra go maith.” (Say little, but say it well.) — Irish saying.
Associated Press
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
