By The Associated Press
- Today is Saturday, March 13, the 72nd day of 1999. There are 293
days left in the year.
- On March 13, 1884, Standard Time was adopted throughout the
United States.
- In 1781, the planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel.
- In 1852, "Uncle Sam" made his debut as a cartoon character in
the New York "Lantern."
- In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson began
in the U.S. Senate.
- In 1901, the 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin
Harrison, died in Indianapolis.
- In 1906, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony died in Rochester,
N.Y.
- In 1925, a law went into effect in Tennessee prohibiting the
teaching of evolution.
- In 1933, banks began to re-open after a "holiday" declared by
President Roosevelt.
- In 1947, the Lerner and Loewe musical "Brigadoon" opened on
Broadway.
- In 1964, in a notorious case, 38 residents of a New York City
neighborhood failed to respond to the cries of Kitty Genovese as
she was stabbed to death.
- In 1969, the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission
that included the successful testing of the lunar module.
- 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.
- Ten years ago: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began a
quarantine of all fruit imported from Chile after traces of cyanide
were found in two Chilean grapes. The space shuttle Discovery
blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a five-day mission.
- Five years ago: A South African diplomat took over as leader of
Bophuthatswana as the black homeland's president, Lucas Mangope,
was deposed. The Israeli Cabinet outlawed two Jewish extremist
groups, Kach and Kahane Lives, branding them terrorist
organizations.
- One year ago: Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, once the Army's top
enlisted man, was acquitted at his court-martial of pressuring
military women for sex, but was convicted of trying to persuade his
chief accuser to lie. U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, D-Mass.,
announced he would not seek a seventh term.
*** Today's Birthdays
- Country singer Liz Anderson is 69.
- Country singer Jan Howard is 69.
- Opera singer Rosalind Elias is 68.
- Songwriter Mike Stoller is 66.
- Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 60.
- Actor William H. Macy is 49.
- Actor Fred Berry ("What's Happening!!") is 48.
- Actress Deborah Raffin is 46.
- Comedian Robin Duke is 45.
- Actress Dana Delany is 43.
- Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 39.
- Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 37.
- Actor Christopher Collet is 31.
- Actress Annabeth Gish is 28.
- Actress Tracy Wells is 28.