Today is the 74th day of 2014 and the 85th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 44 B.C., Roman emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.

In 1820, Maine was admitted as the 23rd U.S. state.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sent 4,800 U.S. troops into Mexico to capture revolutionary Pancho Villa.

In 1985, the computer manufacturing company Symbolics registered the first Internet domain name.

In 1989, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs succeeded the Veterans Administration.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), seventh U.S. president; Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933- ), U.S. Supreme Court justice; Judd Hirsch (1935- ), actor; Phil Lesh (1940- ), musician; Sly Stone (1943- ), singer-songwriter; Bobby Bonds (1946-2003), baseball player; Mike Tomlin (1972- ), football coach; Eva Longoria (1975- ), actress; will.i.am (1975- ), rapper/record producer.

TODAY'S FACT: The salary of the chief justice of the United States was $4,000 in 1789. Chief Justice John Roberts' salary is currently $217,400.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1962, the NBA's Wilt Chamberlain became the first and only player to score 4,000 points in a single season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error." -- Andrew Jackson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2 -- Ranking of "The Godfather," which opened this day in 1972, on the 2007 edition of the American Film Institute's best American movies list. Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" ranked No. 1.

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

Today is the 73rd day of 2014 and the 84th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1794, inventor Eli Whitney received a patent for the cotton gin.

In 1900, the Gold Standard Act was signed into law by President William McKinley.

In 1950, the Federal Bureau of Investigation instituted the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list.

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush banned the importation of assault rifles.

In 1990, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the first (and last) president of the Soviet Union.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Philipp Telemann (1681-1767), composer; Arthur O'Shaughnessy (1844-1881), poet; Albert Einstein (1879-1955), physicist/Nobel Prize winner; Hank Ketcham (1920-2001), cartoonist; Diane Arbus (1923-1971), photographer; Michael Caine (1933- ), actor; Quincy Jones (1933- ), record producer; Wolfgang Petersen (1941- ), filmmaker; Billy Crystal (1948- ), actor/comedian; Kirby Puckett (1960-2006), baseball player; Jamie Bell (1986- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Albert Einstein was offered the Israeli presidency after the death of the country's first president in 1952, but Einstein declined, saying he was not suited for the position.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, the AFL and NFL held their first common draft of college football players. The Baltimore Colts selected defensive tackle Bubba Smith of Michigan State with the first pick.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." -- Albert Einstein

TODAY'S NUMBER: 79 -- record number of Grammy nominations for producer Quincy Jones.

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

Today is the 72nd day of 2014 and the 83rd day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1781, German-born astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.

In 1865, the Confederacy approved the use of slave troops against the Union armies.

In 1925, a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution went into effect in Tennessee.

In 1942, the U.S. Army began training dogs for the newly launched War Dog Program, also known as the K-9 Corps.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Percival Lowell (1855-1916), astronomer; Walter Annenberg (1908-2002), publisher/philanthropist; L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), author/Church of Scientology founder; Al Jaffee (1921- ), cartoonist; Neil Sedaka (1939- ), singer-songwriter; William H. Macy (1950- ), actor; Dana Delany (1956- ), actress; Common (1972- ), rapper/actor; Johan Santana (1979- ), baseball player; Emile Hirsch (1985- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The 27 known moons of Uranus are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1915, Brooklyn Base Ball Club manager Wilbert Robinson was the victim of a prank when he attempted to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane during spring training in Daytona Beach, Fla. Robinson's players convinced the pilot to drop a grapefruit instead, which exploded on impact during Robinson's attempted catch.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Freedom is for honest people. No man who is not himself honest can be free -- he is his own trap." -- L. Ron Hubbard

TODAY'S NUMBER: 14.5 -- length in miles of the undersea portion of the Seikan Tunnel in Japan, the longest and deepest operational rail tunnel in the world, which opened this day in 1988.

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