This day in history

[March 13, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Friday, March 13, the 72nd day of 2009. There are 293 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 13, 1933, banks began to reopen after a "holiday" declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

On this date:

In 1781, the planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel.

In 1884, Congress officially adopted Eastern Standard Time for the District of Columbia.

In 1901, the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, died in Indianapolis at age 67.

In 1925, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution. (Gov. Austin Peay signed the measure on March 21.)

In 1928, hundreds of people died when the San Francisquito Valley in California was inundated with water after the St. Francis Dam burst just before midnight the evening of March 12.

In 1964, bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her home in the New York City borough of Queens; the case generated controversy over the supposed failure of Genovese's neighbors to respond to her cries for help.

In 1969, the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission that included the successful testing of the lunar module.

In 1980, Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found his company innocent of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.

In 1988, yielding to student protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president.

In 1996, a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

Ten years ago: Serb government forces destroyed more than two dozen ethnic Albanian homes in Kosovo, apparently in retaliation for the killing of Serb civilians in the area. Evander Holyfield, the WBA and IBF champion, and Lennox Lewis, the WBC champion, kept their respective titles after fighting to a controversial draw in New York. Playwright Garson Kanin died in New York at age 86.

Five years ago: Iran froze inspections of its nuclear facilities after the U.N. atomic agency censured Tehran for hiding suspect activities. (Tehran relented two days later.)

One year ago: The body of Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho was found in a shallow grave in northern Iraq, two weeks after he was kidnapped by gunmen in one of the most dramatic attacks against the country's small Christian community. Gold hit a record, rising to $1,000 an ounce for the first time (however, it fell sharply later in the year). Bode Miller clinched the men's overall World Cup ski title, in Bormio, Italy.

Today's birthdays: Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 84. Country singer Jan Howard is 79. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 76. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 70. Actor William H. Macy is 59. Actress Deborah Raffin is 56. Comedian Robin Duke is 55. Actress Glenne Headly is 54. Actress Dana Delany is 53. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 49. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 47. Actor Christopher Collet is 41. Rock musician Matt McDonough (Mudvayne) is 40. Actress Annabeth Gish is 38. Actress Tracy Wells is 38. Rapper-actor Common is 37. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The Lumberjacks) is 37. Singer Glenn Lewis is 34. Actor Danny Masterson is 33. Actor Emile Hirsch is 24. Singers Natalie and Nicole Albino (Nina Sky) are 23.

Thought for today: "Work is something you can count on, a trusted, lifelong friend who never deserts you." -- Margaret Bourke-White, American photojournalist (1904-1971)

[Associated Press]

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