Today is the 69th day of 2014 and the 80th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed Ulysses S. Grant's commission to command the U.S. Army.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first intelligible words transmitted over a telephone: "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

In 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1971, the U.S. Senate passed the 26th Amendment, lowering the minimum voting age to 18.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), violinist/composer; Albert Fraenkel (1848-1916), physician; Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), playwright/politician; Chuck Norris (1940- ), actor; Jim Valvano (1946-1993), basketball coach; Sharon Stone (1958- ), actress; Rick Rubin (1963- ), record producer; Rod Woodson (1965- ), football player; Jon Hamm (1971- ), actor; Matt Kenseth (1972- ), race car driver; Timbaland (1972- ), rapper/producer; Robin Thicke (1977- ), singer-songwriter; Carrie Underwood (1983- ), singer-songwriter/actress; Olivia Wilde (1984- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: From 1875 through 1893, the Bell Telephone Company faced 587 unsuccessful court challenges to its patents, including five decided by the Supreme Court.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1995, retired basketball superstar Michael Jordan announced his retirement from baseball after a single season in the minor leagues. Jordan played his comeback game with the NBA's Chicago Bulls nine days later.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul." -- Jim Valvano

TODAY'S NUMBER: 129.1 million -- Americans who voted in the 2012 presidential election.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 8) and full moon (March 16).

Today is the 68th day of 2014 and the 79th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1847, the first large-scale amphibious assault in U.S. history was launched in the Mexican seaport of Veracruz.

In 1959, Mattel introduced the Barbie doll at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.

In 2004, a Virginia court sentenced the Washington, D.C.-area "Beltway Sniper" John Allen Muhammad to death.

In 2011, the space shuttle Discovery completed its 39th and final flight.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Samuel Barber (1910-1981), composer; Mickey Spillane (1918-2006), author; Walter Kohn (1923- ), physicist/Nobel Prize winner; Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), cosmonaut/first person in space; Raul Julia (1940-1994), actor; Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), chess grandmaster; Charles Gibson (1943- ), TV journalist; Juliette Binoche (1964- ), actress; Clint Dempsey (1983- ), soccer player; Brittany Snow (1986- ), actress; Bow Wow (1987- ), actor/rapper.

TODAY'S FACT: Mattel Inc. reports that 90 percent of American girls between ages 3 and 10 own at least one Barbie doll.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1995, league owners unanimously approved the addition of major league baseball expansion franchises in Tampa Bay, Fla., and Arizona.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar ... If the public likes you, you're good." -- Mickey Spillane

TODAY'S NUMBER: 148,221,675 -- miles flown by the space shuttle Discovery during its 26 years of operation, the equivalent of 300 round trips to the moon.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 8) and full moon (March 16).

Today is the 67th day of 2014 and the 78th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1782, Pennsylvania militiamen massacred 96 Christian Native Americans at the Moravian missionary village of Gnadenhutten, Ohio.

In 1917, the so-called February Revolution in Russia began with food riots and strikes in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious education in public schools was unconstitutional.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" during a speech in Orlando, Fla.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935), Supreme Court justice/author; Cyd Charisse (1922-2008), actress/dancer; Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010), actress; Aidan Quinn (1959- ), actor; Freddie Prinze Jr. (1976- ), actor; James Van Der Beek (1977- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Around 3 million Americans (roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population in 2010) have Russian ancestry.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1936, the first stock car race was held in Daytona Beach, Fla.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The degree of civilization which a people has reached, no doubt, is marked by their anxiety to do as they would be done by." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4.8 million -- American children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade private schools in the 2011-2012 school year.

TODAY'S MOON: First quarter moon (March 8).