Today is the 81st day of 2016 and the second day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1788, a fire destroyed most of the city of New Orleans.

In 1963, the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was closed.

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympic Games.

In 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones completed the first nonstop hot air balloon flight around the world.

In 2006, the social media site Twitter was founded.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Benito Juarez (1806-1872), Mexican president; Florenz Ziegfeld (1867-1932), theater producer; Phyllis McGinley (1905-1978), author; Timothy Dalton (1944- ), actor; Gary Oldman (1958- ), actor; Ayrton Senna (1960-1994), race car driver; Matthew Broderick (1962- ), actor; Rosie O'Donnell (1962- ), actress/talk show host; Ronaldinho (1980- ), soccer player; Adrian Peterson (1985- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The first full face transplant in the U.S. occurred on this day in 2011. It took a team of 30 surgeons and other physicians 15 hours to perform the procedure.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, an investigative report by Sports Illustrated revealed evidence that Major League Baseball player-manager Pete Rose had illegally gambled on baseball games.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it's Gary Oldman crying; it's not the character crying." -- Gary Oldman

TODAY'S NUMBER: 14 -- attempted escapes, involving 36 inmates, from Alcatraz Prison over the 29 years that the prison operated. None was believed to have been successful.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).

Today is the 80th day of 2016 and the first day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was published.

In 1952, the U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty returning sovereignty to Japan.

In 1987, the FDA approved AZT, a drug shown to delay the development of AIDS.

In 1995, members of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas into the Tokyo Metro subway system, killing 13 and injuring more than 1,000.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), poet/playwright; B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), psychologist; Ozzie Nelson (1906-1975), actor/bandleader; Sir Michael Redgrave (1908-1985), actor; Carl Reiner (1922- ), comedy writer/director/performer; Fred Rogers (1928-2003), TV personality; Hal Linden (1931- ), actor; Pat Riley (1945- ), basketball coach/executive; Bobby Orr (1948- ), hockey player; William Hurt (1950- ), actor; Spike Lee (1957- ), filmmaker; Holly Hunter (1958- ), actress; Kathy Ireland (1963- ), model/actress; David Thewlis (1963- ), actor; Michael Rapaport (1970- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947, forbids the country from participating in wars.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1934, Mildred "Babe" Didrikson pitched one inning of exhibition baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics in a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. She allowed one walk and no hits.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I hold that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future." -- Henrik Ibsen

TODAY'S NUMBER: 542 -- length (in feet) of the USS Langley, commissioned on this day in 1922 as the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The USS Gerald R. Ford, a supercarrier scheduled to join the Navy's fleet in 2016, is 1,106 feet long.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).

Today is the 79th day of 2016 and the 89th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1918, the U.S. Congress established time zones and approved daylight saving time.

In 1931, the Nevada state legislature voted to legalize gambling.

In 1953, the 25th Academy Awards were featured in the first Oscars telecast.

In 2003, President George W. Bush announced the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: David Livingstone (1813-1873), physician/explorer; Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), lawman/gunfighter; William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), politician; Earl Warren (1891-1974), chief justice of the United States; Philip Roth (1933- ), author; Glenn Close (1947- ), actress; Harvey Weinstein (1952- ), film producer; Bruce Willis (1955- ), actor; Andy Reid (1958- ), football coach; Clayton Kershaw (1988- ), baseball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The Best Actress category of the 85th Academy Awards (held on Feb. 24, 2013) featured both the oldest and the youngest female nominees for a lead acting Oscar. Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour") was age 86 and Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") was age 9.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1995, NBA superstar Michael Jordan scored 19 points against the Indiana Pacers in his first game back with the Chicago Bulls after almost two years of retirement.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Turned the wrong way around, the relentless unforeseen was what we schoolchildren studied in 'History,' harmless history, where everything unexpected in its own time is chronicled on the page as inevitable. The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic." -- Philip Roth

TODAY'S NUMBER: $6.3 billion -- total gaming revenue for the Las Vegas Strip in 2015.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 15) and full moon (March 23).