This day in history

[March 24, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, March 24, the 83rd day of 2011. There are 282 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 24, 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.

On this date:

In 1882, German scientist Robert Koch (kohk) announced in Berlin that he had discovered the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill granting future independence to the Philippines.

In 1944, in occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that had killed 32 German soldiers.

In 1955, the Tennessee Williams play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opened on Broadway.

In 1958, rock-and-roll singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tenn.

In 1976, the president of Argentina, Isabel Peron, was deposed by her country's military.

In 1980, one of El Salvador's most respected Roman Catholic Church leaders, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, was shot to death by a sniper as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador.

In 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez (vahl-DEEZ') ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil.

In 1995, after 20 years, British soldiers stopped routine patrols in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In 1999, NATO launched airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time in its 50-year existence that it had ever attacked a sovereign country. Thirty-nine people were killed when fire erupted in the Mont Blanc tunnel in France and burned for two days.

Ten years ago: Three car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in southern Russia, killing some two dozen people in the worst act of terror to hit Russia outside warring Chechnya in months. A Twin Otter plane crashed into a mountainside house on the Caribbean island of St. Barthelemy, killing all 19 people on board and one person on the ground. U.S. skater Michelle Kwan won her fourth World Figure Skating title in Vancouver, British Columbia; Irina Slutskaya of Russia got the silver, and American Sarah Hughes earned the bronze.

Five years ago: Thousands of people across the country protested against legislation cracking down on illegal immigrants. In Selmer, Tenn., Mary Winkler was charged with shooting to death her minister-husband, Matthew Winkler, in the parsonage of their church. (Mary Winkler, who said she'd been abused by her husband, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and received a three-year prison sentence, but was granted probation for most of it.)

One year ago: Keeping a promise he'd made to anti-abortion Democratic lawmakers to assure passage of historic health care legislation, President Barack Obama signed an executive order against using federal funds to pay for elective abortions covered by private insurance. Actor Robert Culp died in Los Angeles at age 79. Singer Johnny Maestro died in Florida at age 70.

Today's birthdays: Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti is 92. Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 72. Actor R. Lee Ermey is 67. Movie director Curtis Hanson is 66. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is 64. Rock musician Lee Oskar is 63. Singer Nick Lowe is 62. Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 60. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 60. Comedian Louie Anderson is 58. Actress Donna Pescow is 57. Actor Robert Carradine is 57. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is 55. Actress Kelly LeBrock is 51. Rhythm-and-blues DJ Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry (Ghostown DJs) is 50. TV personality Star Jones is 49. Country-rock musician Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) is 47. Actor Peter Jacobson is 46. Rock singer-musician Sharon Corr (The Corrs) is 41. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 41. Rapper Maceo (AKA P.A. Pasemaster Mase) is 41. Actor Jim Parsons is 38. Actress Alyson Hannigan is 37. NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 35. Actress Lake Bell is 32. Rock musician Benj Gershman (O.A.R.) is 31. Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is 21.

Thought for today: "If merely 'feeling good' could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience." -- William James, American psychologist (1842-1910)

[Associated Press]

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