Today is the 69th day of 2015 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; 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; 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 eight days later.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "To me there are three things everyone should do every day. Number one is laugh. Number two is think -- spend some time in thought. Number three, you should have your emotions move you to tears. If you laugh, think and cry, that's a heck of a day." -- Jim Valvano

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

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (March 5) and last quarter moon (March 13).

Today is the 68th day of 2015 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 1945, 334 B-29 bombers began Operation Meetinghouse, a firebombing campaign of the city of Tokyo that was the deadliest air raid of World War II.

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 Arizona and Tampa Bay, Florida.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Guys like you can't escape the city. Hell, you got a blood contract with this place. You're married to the old girl." -- Mickey Spillane, "Kiss Her Goodbye"

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 full moon (March 5) and last quarter moon (March 13).

Today is the 67th day of 2015 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, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935), Supreme Court justice/author; Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), author; Sam Jaffe (1891- 1984), actor; Alan Hale Jr. (1921-1990), actor; Cyd Charisse (1922-2008), actress/dancer; Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010), actress; Lester Holt (1959- ), journalist; 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 the 2010 census) have Russian ancestry.

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

TODAY'S QUOTE: "A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5.5 million -- American children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade private schools in the 2013-2014 school year.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (March 5) and last quarter moon (March 13).