UPI Almanac for Saturday, March 9, 2024

Today is Saturday, March 9, the 69th day of 2024 with 297 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include explorer Amerigo Vespucci in 1454; Leland Stanford, railroad builder/founder of California's Stanford University, in 1824; English novelist/poet Victoria "Vita" Sackville-West in 1892; composer Samuel Barber in 1910; detective novelist Mickey Spillane in 1918; actor Joyce Van Patten in 1934 (age 90); Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, in 1934; country singer Mickey Gilley in 1936; actor Raul Julia in 1940; actor Trish Van Devere in 1941 (age 83); rock 'n' roll singer Mark Lindsay in 1942 (age 82); rocker John Cale in 1942 (age 82); journalist Charles Gibson in 1943 (age 81); former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1943; rock musician Robin Trower in 1945 (age 79); actor Linda Fiorentino in 1960 (age 64); TV personalty Steve Wilkos in 1964 (age 60); actor Juliette Binoche in 1964 (age 60); musician Robert Sledge in 1968 (age 56); musician Shannon Leto in 1970 (age 54); actor Emmanuel Lewis in 1971 (age 53); actor Jean Louisa Kelly in 1972 (age 52); actor Kerr Smith in 1972 (age 52); actor Oscar Isaac in 1979 (age 45); actor Matthew Gray Gubler in 1980 (age 44); Olympic gold medal skier Julia Mancuso in 1984 (age 40); actor Brittany Snow in 1986 (age 38); rapper/actor Bow Wow, born Shad Gregory Moss, in 1987 (age 37); singer Suga, born Min Yoon-gi, in 1993 (age 31); actor Cierra Ramirez in 1995 (age 29); Olympic gymnast Sunisa "Suni" Lee in 2003 (age 21).

On this date in history:

In 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, with one dissent, that the enslaved Africans who seized control of the Amistad slave ship had been illegally forced into slavery and thus were free under U.S. law. Some 150 years later, a copy of the Bible given to former President John Quincy Adams as a thank you gift for representing the defendants in the case, was stolen and later returned.

In 1862, a battle between ironclad ships -- the Union's Monitor and the Confederate's Merrimac (renamed the Virginia) -- ended indecisively off Hampton Roads, Va.

In 1916, several hundred Mexican guerrillas under the command of Francisco "Pancho" Villa crossed the U.S.-Mexican border and attacked the small border town of Columbus, N.M., killing 17 Americans.

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt presented the first of his New Deal policies, the Emergency Banking Act, to Congress, which promptly passed the legislation.

In 1945, more than 300 American B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo with incendiary bombs, killing about 100,000 people and destroying an estimated 250,000 buildings over 16 square miles.

In 1959, Barbie, which became a perennially popular doll, made its debut in stores. Celebrate Barbie at 25, 30, and 50.

In 1981, dozens of workers at the Japan Atomic Power Company nuclear plant in Tsuruga were exposed to radiation after a sludge tank overflowed. Sixteen tons of the radioactive waste spilled into Wakasa Bay. Officials didn't tell the public until more than a month later.

In 1992, a federal judge in New York announced a final $1.3 billion agreement to settle civil suits growing out of the 1989 collapse of Drexel Burham Lambert, once the most powerful firm on Wall Street.

In 1997, rapper Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, died from multiple gunshot wounds after a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. He was 24.

In 2005, Dan Rather stepped down as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News. His departure followed acknowledgment of major flaws in a broadcast about U.S. President George W. Bush's National Guard service.

In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama lifted the U.S. limit on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, calling it an important advancement in the cause of science in the United States.

In 2011, after 39 flights over 27 years of service, the space shuttle Discovery made its final landing at Kennedy Space Center.

In 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of genocide after Kyiv officials said Kremlin bombed a children's hospital and a maternity ward in Mariupol, leaving children and women under the debris.

In 2023, the United Nations announced plans to purchase a decaying, oil-filled supertanker that had been sitting off the coast of Yemen since the start of the country's civil war in 2015. At risk of causing a major environmental disaster, the U.N. offloaded more than 1.14 million barrels of oil in July and August 2023.

A thought for the day: "We tend to think of meditation in only one way. But life itself is a meditation." -- Actor Raul Julia