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UPI Almanac for Tuesday, March 3, 2015

"The Star-Spangled Banner" becomes U.S. national anthem, a Turkish jetliner crashes near Paris, the Rodney King beating in LA … on this date in history.

By United Press International
Planes of the Maryland Air National Guard fly overhead at the end of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a football game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore Sept. 10, 2012. The song officially became the U.S. national anthem March 3, 1931. File Photo by Matt Roth/UPI
1 of 9 | Planes of the Maryland Air National Guard fly overhead at the end of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a football game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore Sept. 10, 2012. The song officially became the U.S. national anthem March 3, 1931. File Photo by Matt Roth/UPI | License Photo

Today is Tuesday, March 3, the 62nd day of 2015 with 303 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mercury, Neptune and Saturn. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Uranus and Venus.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include English poet Edmund Waller in 1606; industrialist George Pullman, inventor of the railway sleeping car, in 1831; telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell in 1847; Charles Ponzi, convicted of fraud for a pyramid scheme that bears his name, in 1882; U.S. Army Gen. Matthew Ridgway in 1895; movie star Jean Harlow in 1911; "Star Trek" actor James "Scotty" Doohan in 1920; musician Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson in 1923; Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in 1933 (age 82); fashion designer Perry Ellis in 1940; author Ron Chernow in 1949 (age 66); actor Miranda Richardson in 1958 (age 57); radio show host Ira Glass in 1959 (age 56); football star Herschel Walker, 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, in 1962 (age 53); Olympic gold medal heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1962 (age 53); actor Julie Bowen in 1970 (age 45); actor David Faustino in 1974 (age 41); actor Jessica Biel in 1982 (age 33).

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On this date in history:

In 1845, Florida was admitted to the United States as the 27th state.

In 1875, "Carmen" by Georges Bizet premiered in Paris.

In 1879, attorney Belva Ann Lockwood became the first woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1923, Time magazine published its first issue.

In 1931, an act of Congress designated "The Star-Spangled Banner" the national anthem of the United States.

In 1974, a Turkish jetliner crashed near Paris, killing 345 people.

In 1985, coal miners in Britain ended a yearlong strike, the longest and costliest labor dispute in British history.

In 1986, the U.S. President's Commission on Organized Crime, ending a 32-month investigation, called for drug testing of most working Americans, including all federal employees.

In 1991, home video captured a Los Angeles police beating of motorist Rodney King that triggered a national debate on police brutality. (Acquittal of the LAPD officers in 1992 led to deadly riots during which King asked at a news conference, "Can we all get along?" King died at the age of 47 in 2012.)

In 1993, Dr. Albert Sabin, the medical pioneer who helped conquer polio, died at his home of heart failure. He was 86.

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In 1997, former CIA official Harold Nicholson pleaded guilty to spying for Russia. (He was sentenced to 23 years and seven months in prison.)

In 2006, former U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-Calif., was sentenced to eight years in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors. (Cunningham was released from prison in 2013.)

In 2010, same-sex marriages became legal in the District of Columbia.

In 2013, Mitt Romney said he hoped to continue to have some influence in the Republican Party despite his loss in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

In 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama told Russia its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula would be a "costly proposition" and warned of possible economic sanctions.


A thought for the day: "Saying nothing sometimes says the most." -- Emily Dickinson

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