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UPI Almanac for Friday, March 13, 2020

On March 13, 1980, a Chicago jury sentenced John Wayne Gacy to death for the murder of 33 young men and boys. He died by lethal injection May 10, 1994.

By United Press International
On March 13, 1980, a Chicago jury sentenced John Wayne Gacy to death for the murder of 33 young men and boys. He died by lethal injection May 10, 1994. File Photo courtesy of the White House
1 of 2 | On March 13, 1980, a Chicago jury sentenced John Wayne Gacy to death for the murder of 33 young men and boys. He died by lethal injection May 10, 1994. File Photo courtesy of the White House

Today is Friday, March 13, the 73rd day of 2020 with 293 to follow.

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

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Pope Innocent XII in 1615; English chemist Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen, in 1733; U.S. first lady Abigail Fillmore in 1798; astronomer Percival Lowell in 1855; publisher Walter Annenberg in 1908; L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction writer and founder of the Church of Scientology, in 1911; former CIA Director William Casey in 1913; cartoonist Al Jaffee in 1921 (age 99); Helen "Callaghan" Candaele Saint Aubin, known as the "Ted Williams of women's baseball," in 1923; singer/songwriter Neil Sedaka in 1939 (age 81); actor William H. Macy in 1950 (age 70); political commentator Charles Krauthammer in 1950; actor Dana Delany in 1956 (age 64); musician Adam Clayton, U2 bass player, in 1960 (age 60); actor Annabeth Gish in 1971 (age 49); actor/rapper Common, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., in 1972 (age 48); metal singer David Draiman in 1973 (age 47); actor Danny Masterson in 1976 (age 44); actor Noel Fisher in 1984 (age 36); actor Emile Hirsch in 1985 (age 35); actor Harry Melling in 1989 (age 31); journalist/model Peaches Geldof in 1989; actor Kaya Scodelario in 1992 (age 28); actor George MacKay in 1992 (age 28); U.S. Olympic gold alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin in 1995 (age 25).

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On this date in history:

In 1781, the planet Uranus was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel.

In 1868, the Republican-dominated U.S. Senate began impeachment proceedings against U.S. President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and successor to Abraham Lincoln, climaxing a political feud following the Civil War. He was acquitted by one vote.

In 1881, Czar Alexander II, the ruler of Russia since 1855, was killed in a St. Petersburg street by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary People's Will group.

In 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, banks throughout the United States began to reopen after a weeklong bank holiday declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a successful effort to stop runs on bank assets.

In 1933, President Roosevelt sent word to Congress calling for the immediate modification of the Volstead act to permit the manufacture and sale of beer.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy proposed the multibillion-dollar Alliance for Progress to aid Latin America. The program was largely believed to have failed to bring democracy to the continent.

In 1980, a Chicago jury sentenced John Wayne Gacy to death for the murder of 33 young men and boys. He died by lethal injection May 10, 1994.

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In 1990, the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies formally ended the Communist Party's monopoly rule, establishing a presidential system and giving Mikhail Gorbachev broad new powers.

In 1992, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck northeast Turkey, killing at least 500 people and leaving some 50,000 homeless.

In 1996, a gun collector opened fire at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, killing 16 kindergarten children and their teacher, and then himself.

In 2004, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti sang his final opera at New York City's Metropolitan Opera house.

In 2008, gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000 per ounce for the first time.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama, 75-year-old spiritual leader of Tibet, formally submitted his resignation as Tibet's political leader, a post he had held since he was 18, to the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile.

In 2013, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, a Jesuit, became pope of the Catholic Church. He chose the name of Francis.

In 2019, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to an additional 43 months in prison for conspiracy, and bank and tax fraud, bringing his total sentence to 7.5 years.

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A thought for the day: "Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death." -- Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

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