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 Today's Highlight in History:
On March 6, 1836, the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.
On this date:
In 1834, the city of York in Upper Canada was incorporated as Toronto.
In 1853, Verdi's opera "La Traviata" premiered in Venice, Italy.
In 1857, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that Scott, a slave, was not an American citizen and could not sue for his freedom in federal court.
In 1933, a nationwide bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt went into effect.
In 1935, retired Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., died in Washington.
In 1944, U.S. heavy bombers staged the first full-scale American raid on Berlin during World War II.
In 1957, the former British African colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana.
In 1967, the daughter of Josef Stalin, Svetlana Alliluyeva (ah-lee-loo-YAY'-vah), appeared at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi and declared her intention to defect to the West.
In 1970, a bomb being built inside a Greenwich Village townhouse by the radical Weathermen accidentally went off, destroying the house and killing three group members.
In 1987, 193 people died when the British ferry Herald of Free Enterprise capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge (zay-BRUKH'-ah).
Ten years ago: Three New York City officers were convicted of a cover-up in a brutal police station attack on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. (The convictions of Thomas Wiese, Thomas Bruder and Charles Schwarz were later overturned, but Schwarz, whose conviction for participating in the attack was also overturned, was found guilty of perjury in a 2002 trial.) Eric Clapton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time; among the newest honorees were James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt and Earth, Wind and Fire.
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 Five years ago: Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena (zhoo-lee-AH'-nah ZGRAY'-nah) claimed American soldiers gave no warning before they opened fire on the car carrying her to the Baghdad airport, killing the Italian agent who'd just won her freedom after a month in captivity. The White House called the shooting a "horrific accident" and restated its promise to investigate fully. Actress Teresa Wright died in New Haven, Conn. at age 86. Hans Bethe, the winner of the 1967 Nobel Prize in physics who'd played a central role in the building of the atomic bomb, died in Ithaca, N.Y. at age 98.
One year ago: The government reported the jobless rate reached 8.1 percent in Feb. 2009. While acknowledging an "astounding" number of job losses, President Barack Obama told critics of his $787 billion economic recovery plan in Columbus, Ohio, that it was saving jobs and said, "I know we did the right thing." (The Congressional Budget Office now estimates the plan will cost $862 billion.)
Today's Birthdays: Orchestra conductor Julius Rudel is 89. Former FBI and CIA director William Webster is 86. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 84. Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is 83. Orchestra conductor Lorin Maazel is 80. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is 73. Country singer Doug Dillard is 73. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., is 71. Actress-writer Joanna Miles is 70. Actor Ben Murphy is 68. Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is 66. Singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes) is 66. Rock musician Hugh Grundy (The Zombies) is 65. Rock singer-musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 64. Actor-director Rob Reiner is 63. Singer Kiki Dee is 63. Rock singer-musician Phil Alvin (The Blasters) is 57. Actor Tom Arnold is 51. Former child actress Suzanne Crough (kroh) is 47. Actor D.L. Hughley is 46. Country songwriter Skip Ewing is 46. Actress Yvette Wilson is 46. Actor Shuler Hensley is 43. Actress Connie Britton is 42. Actress Moira Kelly is 42. Actress Amy Pietz is 41. Rock musician Chris Broderick (Megadeth) is 40. NBA player Shaquille O'Neal is 38. Country singer Trent Willmon is 37. Country musician Shan Farmer (Ricochet) is 36. Rapper Beanie Sigel is 36. Rapper Bubba Sparxxx is 33. Rock musician Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend) is 26. Actor Eli Marienthal is 24. Actor Jimmy Galeota is 24. Actor Dillon Freasier (Film: "There Will Be Blood") is 14. Actress Savannah Stehlin is 14.
Thought for Today: "Best be yourself, imperial, plain and true!"
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861).
(Above Advance for Use Saturday, March 6)
Copyright 2010, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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