ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 68th day of 2020 and the 79th 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: "Here today, up and off to somewhere else tomorrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing!" -- 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 2019-2020 school year.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 2) and full moon (March 9).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 67th day of 2020 and the 78th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received the patent for the telephone.

In 1936, Adolf Hitler ordered German troops to reoccupy the Rhineland, defying the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1965, state troopers forcefully broke up 600 civil rights protesters on "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Alabama.

In 1985, the song "We Are the World" was released worldwide, with sales to benefit African famine relief.

In 2009, the Kepler space observatory, designed by NASA to discover Earthlike planets, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Herschel (1792-1871), mathematician/astronomer; Luther Burbank (1849-1926), botanist; Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), composer; Willard Scott (1934- ), TV personality; Bryan Cranston (1956- ), actor; Ivan Lendl (1960- ), tennis player; Wanda Sykes (1964- ), actress/comedian; Rachel Weisz (1970- ), actress; Peter Sarsgaard (1971- ), actor; Jenna Fischer (1974- ), actress; Laura Prepon (1980- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics used data from the Kepler space observatory to estimate that at least 17 billion Earth-sized exoplanets exist in the Milky Way galaxy.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1987, 20-year-old Mike Tyson defeated James "Bonecrusher" Smith to unify the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council titles, becoming the youngest undisputed heavyweight champion in history.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It is well for people who think, to change their minds occasionally in order to keep them clean." -- Luther Burbank

TODAY'S NUMBER: 86,248 -- number of Americans who were 100 years or older in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 2) and full moon (March 9).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 66th day of 2020 and the 77th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1836, the Alamo mission and fortress compound in Texas fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that slaves were property in Dred Scott v. Sandford.

In 1951, the espionage trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg began in New York Southern District federal court.

In 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time as "CBS Evening News" anchor, a post he had held for 19 years.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Michelangelo (1475-1564), painter/sculptor/architect; Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655), soldier/writer; Lou Costello (1906-1959), actor/comedian; Will Eisner (1917-2005), cartoonist; Alan Greenspan (1926- ), economist; Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1927-2014), author; Rob Reiner (1947- ), actor/director; D.L. Hughley (1963- ), actor/comedian; Connie Britton (1967- ), actress; Shaquille O'Neal (1972- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: Michelangelo's talent as a sculptor first drew attention after a failed attempt at art fraud. The cardinal who purchased his fake antique cupid statue was so impressed with Michelangelo's work that he invited the artist to Rome for a meeting.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1964, world heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay announced that his spiritual mentor, Elijah Muhammad, had given him the new name Muhammad Ali.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old; they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams." -- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

TODAY'S NUMBER: $0.30 -- price for 1 pound of Oreo cookies in a novelty can when the cookie was introduced by the National Biscuit Co. (today known as Nabisco) on this day in 1912.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (March 2) and full moon (March 9).