The almanac

Today is Tuesday, April 3, the 94th day of 2012 with 272 to follow.

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

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; actor Leslie Howard in 1893; publisher Henry Luce and comedian George Jessel, both in 1898; dancer Sally Rand and actor Iron Eyes Cody, both in 1904; newspaper columnist Herb Caen in 1916; actors Doris Day in 1924 (age 88) and Marlon Brando in 1924; astronaut Virgil "Gus" Grissom in 1926; anthropologist Jane Goodall in 1934 (age 78); actor Marsha Mason and entertainer Wayne Newton, both in 1942 (age 70); singer Tony Orlando in 1944 (age 68); musician Richard Thompson in 1949 (age 63); actors Alec Baldwin in 1958 (age 54) and David Hyde Pierce in 1959 (age 53); actor/comedian Eddie Murphy in 1961 (age 51); singer Sebastian Bach in 1968 (age 44); actors Jennie Garth in 1972 (age 40) and Amanda Bynes in 1986 (age 26); and Olympic skier Picabo Street in 1971 (age 41).

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 nearby Petersburg surrendered to Union forces.

In 1882, 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 killing 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 African-Americans from voting violated the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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

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

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

In 1995, 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 violated U.S. antitrust laws. Microsoft announced that it would appeal the decision.

In 2003, U.S. 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.

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.

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

Also in 2005, a study prepared by a panel advising the U.S. Defense Department said that "Muslims in dictatorial regimes" don't yearn to be liberated by the United States.

In 2007, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., led a delegation to the Mideast with an agenda including peace talks with Syria and Israel that brought a shower of criticism from the White House.

In 2008, as FAA regulators opened congressional testimony about national airline woes dealing with safety concerns, rising fuel costs and the economy, three bankrupt air carriers, Aloha, Skybus and ATA, ceased operations.

In 2009, 13 people, including the gunman, a Vietnamese immigrant, were killed in a shooting spree at an immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y.

In 2011, Thailand floods claimed at least 41 lives with hundreds of others trapped inside their homes, officials said, with nearly 10 feet of water covering four villages in one district.

Also in 2011, at least 300 penguins were reported dead and tens of thousands more at risk in a South Atlantic oil spill west of South Africa.

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