ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 69th day of 2019 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, which would lower 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 first comeback game with the NBA's Chicago Bulls eight days later.

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

TODAY'S NUMBER: 136.6 million -- Americans who voted in the 2016 presidential election.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (March 6) and first quarter moon (March 14).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 68th day of 2019 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 (1923-2016), 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; Oscar Isaac (1979- ), actor; 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 Phoenix and Tampa, Florida.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar." -- 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 new moon (March 6) and first quarter moon (March 14).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 67th day of 2019 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.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935), Supreme Court justice/author; Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), author; Alan Hale Jr. (1921-1990), actor; Cyd Charisse (1922-2008), actress/dancer; Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010), actress; Micky Dolenz (1945- ), singer/musician; Lester Holt (1959- ), journalist; Aidan Quinn (1959- ), actor; Kenny Smith (1965- ), basketball player/sportscaster; 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: "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." -- Kenneth Grahame, "The Wind in the Willows"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 56.6 million -- estimated number of American children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade public schools in the 2018-2019 school year.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (March 6) and first quarter moon (March 14).