The almanac

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Today is Sunday, Sept. 28, the 272nd day of 2008 with 94 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning star is Saturn. The evening stars are Mars, Venus, Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Libra. They include Frances Willard, founder of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, in 1839; CBS Chairman William Paley in 1901; TV variety show host and columnist Ed Sullivan in 1901; heavyweight boxing champ Max Schmeling in 1905; cartoonist Al Capp in 1909; actors William Windom in 1923 (age 85) and Marcello Mastroianni in 1924; actress and animal rights advocate Brigitte Bardot in 1934 (age 74); musician Ben E. King in 1938 (age 70); actor Jeffrey Jones in 1946 (age 62); and actresses Janeane Garofalo in 1964 (age 44) and Gwyneth Paltrow in 1972 (age 36).

On this date in history:

In 490 B.C., the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon. A Greek soldier named Phidippides ran more than 26 miles to tell Athenians of the victory and died after his announcement. His feat provided the model for the modern marathon race.

In 1892, Mansfield University was the home team for the first night football game at Smythe Park in Mansfield, Pa.

In 1920, in baseball's biggest scandal, a grand jury indicted eight Chicago White Sox players for throwing the 1919 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1982, the first reports appeared of deaths in the Chicago area from Extra-strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. Seven people died and the unsolved case resulted in tamper-proof packaging for consumer products.

In 1987, a federal appeals court declared Boston public schools officially desegregated after a 13-year effort.

In 1989, former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii.

In 1992, a Pakistan jetliner carrying 167 people, including three Americans, crashed into a hill southeast of Kathmandu, Nepal, killing all aboard. It was Nepal's worst air disaster.

In 1993, U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton was the administration's lead witness in congressional hearings on the proposed national healthcare program.

Also in 1993, as the power struggle in Russia intensified, the Interior Ministry sealed off the parliament building. Opponents to President Boris Yeltsin were holed up inside.

In 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat signed "phase two" of their peace agreement in Washington.

In 2000, right-wing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon visited the sacred site known as the Temple Mount to Jews and Haram al Sharif to Muslims, sparking a deadly round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that continued to escalate over the next two years. Five months later, Sharon was elected prime minister.

Also in 2000, the Drug and Food Administration announced approval of an abortion pill.

In 2001, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to require all members to put a stop to financing and training of terrorists within their borders.

In 2003, legendary Broadway and film director Elia Kazan died at his home in New York at the age of 94.

In 2004, the price of oil topped $50 a barrel for the first time in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In 2005, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the U.S. House of Representatives majority leader, was indicted in Texas for allegedly conspiring to violate a state fundraising law.

In 2006, in a move boosting support for the Afghan government, NATO voted to dramatically expand operations in Afghanistan. The focus will be on the east, where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding.

In 2007, the U.S. Senate joined the House of Representatives in defying a veto threat from President George Bush to approve an expansion of the child health insurance program. The bill would spend about $35 billion to expand health insurance to more than four million children.

A thought for the day: U.S. writer Gertrude Stein said, "... the creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic."