This day in history

[March 30, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Wednesday, March 30, the 89th day of 2011. There are 276 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady; Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty.

On this date:

In 1861, the element thallium was discovered by English chemist William Crookes.

In 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million.

In 1909, the Queensboro Bridge, linking the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, opened.

In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Austria during World War II.

In 1959, a narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Bartkus v. Illinois, ruled that a conviction in state court following an acquittal in federal court for the same crime did not constitute double jeopardy.

In 1964, John Glenn withdrew from the Ohio race for the U.S. Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.

In 1970, the musical "Applause," based on the movie "All About Eve," opened on Broadway.

In 1986, actor James Cagney died at his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y., at age 86.

In 1991, Patricia Bowman of Jupiter, Fla., told authorities she'd been raped hours earlier by William Kennedy Smith, the nephew of Sen. Edward Kennedy, at the family's Palm Beach estate. (Smith was acquitted at trial.)

In 2002, Britain's Queen Mother Elizabeth died in her sleep at Royal Lodge, Windsor, outside London; she was 101 years old.

Ten years ago: Top environment officials from North, Central and South America ended two days of talks in Montreal without a consensus agreement on global warming. (A statement signed by 26 ministers from Latin American and Caribbean countries faulted a decision by the United States to reject the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.)

Five years ago: American reporter Jill Carroll, a freelancer for The Christian Science Monitor, was released after 82 days as a hostage in Iraq. A cruise boat capsized off the coast of Bahrain, leaving 58 dead. Major League Baseball began its investigation into alleged steroid use among players.

One year ago: President Barack Obama signed a single measure sealing his health care overhaul and making the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process. The world's largest atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, threw together minuscule particles racing at unheard of speeds in conditions simulating those just after the Big Bang. Math teacher Jaime Escalante, who inspired the movie "Stand and Deliver," died in Los Angeles at age 79. Morris Jeppson, a weapons test officer aboard the Enola Gay who helped arm the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima, died at a Las Vegas hospital at age 87.

Today's birthdays: Game show host Peter Marshall is 85. Actor Richard Dysart is 82. Actor John Astin is 81. Entertainer Rolf Harris (song: "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport") is 81. Actor-director Warren Beatty is 74. Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is 70. Rock musician Eric Clapton is 66. Actor Justin Deas (TV: "Guiding Light") is 63. Actor Robbie Coltrane is 61. Actor Paul Reiser is 54. Rap artist MC Hammer is 48. Singer Tracy Chapman is 47. Actor Ian Ziering is 47. Singer Celine Dion is 43. Actor Mark Consuelos is 40. Actress Bahar Soomekh is 36. Actress Jessica Cauffiel is 35. Singer Norah Jones is 32. Country singer Justin Moore is 27.

Thought for today: "If men could foresee the future, they would still behave as they do now." -- Russian proverb

[Associated Press]

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