By The Associated Press
           - Today is Wednesday, March 24, the 83rd day of 1999. There are 282
             days left in the year.

           - On March 24, 1949, at the Academy Awards, "Hamlet" won best picture
             of 1948 and its star, Laurence Olivier, best actor; Jane Wyman won
             best actress for "Johnny Belinda;" "Treasure of Sierra Madre" won
             best director for John Huston and best supporting actor for the
             director's father, Walter Huston.
           - In 1765, Britain enacted the Quartering Act, requiring American
             colonists to provide temporary housing to British soldiers.
           - In 1882, German scientist Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he
             had discovered the bacillus responsible for tuberculosis.
           - In 1883, long-distance telephone service was inaugurated between
             Chicago and New York.
           - In 1934, President 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 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
             gunmen as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador.
           - Ten years ago: The nation's worst oil spill occurred as the
             supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska's Prince
             William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude.
           - Five years ago: President Clinton held a news conference in which he
             acknowledged he had significantly overstated the loss in his
             Whitewater land investment and promised to release late 1970's tax
             returns to answer questions on the land deal.
           - One year ago: Two students, ages 13 and 11, opened fire outside
             their school in Jonesboro, Ark., killing four classmates and a
             teacher.

           *Happy Birthday*
           ----------------
           - Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 59.
           - Actor R. Lee Ermey is 55.
           - Movie director Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") is 54.
           - Rock musician Lee Oskar is 51.
           - Rock musician Dougie Thomson (Supertramp) is 48.
           - Comedian-actor Louie Anderson is 46.
           - Actress Donna Pescow is 45.
           - Actor Robert Carradine is 45.
           - Actress Kelly LeBrock is 39.
           - Rhythm-and-blues DJ Rodney "Kool Kollie" Terry (Ghostown DJs) is 38.
           - Actress Annabella Sciorra is 35.
           - Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 29.
           - Rapper P.A. Pasemaster Mase (De La Soul) is 29.
           - Actress Alyson Hannigan ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is 25.