The Almanac

Today is Monday, April 3, the 93rd day of 2006 with 272 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include historian and story writer Washington Irving in 1783; author and naturalist John Burroughs in 1837; publisher Henry Luce in 1898; actress and "fan dancer" Sally Rand in 1904; actress Doris Day in 1924 (age 82) and actor Marlon Brando also in 1924; astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom in 1926; anthropologist Jane Goodall in 1934 (age 72); actress Marsha Mason and entertainer Wayne Newton, both in 1942 (age 64); singer Tony Orlando in 1944 (age 62); actors Alec Baldwin in 1958 (age 48) and David Hyde Pierce in 1959 (age 47); actor/comedian Eddie Murphy in 1961 (age 45); and actress Jennie Garth ("Beverly Hills 90210") and Olympic skier Picabo Street, both in 1971 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1860, the Pony Express postal service began with riders leaving St. Joseph, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif., at the same time.

In 1865, as the Civil War drew to a close, Richmond, Va., and nearly Petersburg surrendered to Union forces.

In 1882, the notorious outlaw Jesse James was shot to death by Robert Ford, a former gang member who hoped to collect the reward on James' head.

In 1936, Richard Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the 1932 kidnapping and killing of the 20-month-old son of Charles A. Lindbergh.

In 1944, in a case out of Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that barring blacks from voting violated the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In 1948, President Harry Truman signed into law the Marshall Plan, aimed to help European countries recover from World War II.

In 1962, the federal government ordered New Orleans to integrate the first six grades of its public schools.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford said the rest of the world should not regard losses in South Vietnam as a sign that U.S. commitments would not be fulfilled elsewhere.

In 1989, Richard M. Daley was elected mayor of Chicago, the post his father had held for 21 years.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council passed the cease-fire resolution to end the Persian Gulf War.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met in Canada for their first summit.

In 1995, the owners and players of major league baseball approved an agreement, ending what was then the longest strike in sports history.

In 1996, a plane crash in Croatia killed 35 people, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and other officials and business leaders.

Also in 1996, the FBI raided a Montana cabin and arrested former college professor Theodore Kaczynski, accusing him of being the Unabomber whose mail bombs had killed three people and injured 23 more since the 1970s.

In 1997, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said construction of a Jewish settlement in Arab East Jerusalem would continue, despite a series of fatal confrontations between Israeli troops and Palestinians.

In 2000, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft had violated U.S. antitrust laws. Microsoft immediately announced that it would appeal the decision.

In 2002, Afghan officials said they had arrested hundreds of people suspected of trying to subvert the country.

In 2003, President George W. Bush told U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina that victory was at hand in Iraq. On that day, coalition troops crossed the Tigris River and moved to within 25 miles of Baghdad.

Also in 2003, as new cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome mounted the World Health Organization advised against travel to Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong because of the risk posed by the mysterious, pneumonia-like illness known as SARS.

In 2004, as Spanish police closed in, three men believed to be behind the Madrid train bombings blew themselves up, also killing one officer and injuring 11 others.

Also in 2004, a Tyler, Texas, jury decided Deanna Laney was legally insane when she used rocks to kill two of her young children and maim a third.

In 2005, Syria said it would withdraw all troops from Lebanon by April 30, earlier than expected.

Also in 2005, a study prepared by a panel advising the Defense Department said that "Muslims in dictatorial regimes" do not yearn to be liberated by the United States.

A thought for the day: "Money, the root of all evil ... but the cure for all sadness." Mike Gill said that.