Paradise Driver

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Today is Thursday, March 18th

The 78th day of 2003.

There are 288 days left in the year.



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Today's Highlight in History:



On March 18, 1766, Britain repealed the Stamp Act.



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On this date:



In 1190, Crusaders killed 57 Jews in Bury St. Edmonds England.



In 1554, Princess Elizabeth, heir apparent to the throne in England, is imprisoned for suspected complicity in Wyatt's Rebellion against her half sister, Queen Mary I of England.



In 1673, Lord Berkley sold his half of New Jersey to the Quakers.



In 1818, The U.S. Congress approved the first pensions for government service.



In 1834, The first railroad tunnel in the United States is completed in Pennsylvania.



In 1837, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in Caldwell, N.J.



In 1850, the First Stagecoach Company was formed by Henry Wells & William Fargo, was called the American Express, later changed to Wells Fargo, a coast to coast express business.



In 1909, Einar Dessau of Denmark uses a short-wave transmitter, becoming the first person to broadcast as a “ham” operator.



In 1910, The first opera by a U.S. composer was performed at the Met in New York City.



In 1922, Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years' imprisonment for civil disobedience. (He was released after serving two years.)



In 1931, Schick Inc. marketed the first electric razor.



In 1937, more than 400 people, mostly children, were killed in a gas explosion at a school in New London, Texas.



In 1938, New York first required serological blood tests of pregnant women.



In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini met at the Brenner Pass, where the Italian dictator agreed to join Germany's war against France and Britain.



In 1945, 1,250 U.S. bombers attacks Berlin.



In 1949, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is ratified.



In 1959, President Eisenhower signed the Hawaii statehood bill.



In 1962, France and Algerian rebels agreed to a truce.



In 1963, The United States Supreme Court handed down its Miranda decision which states that all defendants must be provided with legal counsel.



In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov left his Voskhod II capsule, secured by a tether.



In 1969, U.S. President Nixon authorizes Operation Menue. It was the ‘secret’ bombing of Cambodia.



In 1974, most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their embargo against the United States.



In 1975, Saigon abandoned most of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Hanoi.



In 1975, The Kurds ended their fight against Iraq.



In 1977, Vietnam turned over an MIA to a U.S. delegation.



In 1979, Iranian authorities detained American feminist Kate Millett, a day before deporting her and a companion for what were termed "provocations."



In 1980, The Vostok rocket exploded on the launch pad killing 50.



In 1981, The U.S. disclosed that there were biological weapons tested in Texas in 1966.



In 1981, The Buffalo Sabres set an NHL record when they scored 9 goals in one period against Toronto.



In 1986, The U.S. Treasury Department announced that a clear, polyester thread was to be woven into bills in an effort to thwart counterfeiters.



In 1986, Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson.



In 1987, The U.S. performed nuclear tests at a Nevada test site.



In 1989, 12 paintings were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The value was $100 million making it the largest art robbery in history.



In 1989, A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered at the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.



In 1990, In Tampa, FL, a little league player was killed after being hit with a pitch.



In 1990, The first free elections took place in East Germany.



In 1990, The 32-day lockout of baseball players ended.



In 1992, Leona Hemsly was sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax evasion.



In 1992, White South Africans voted for constitutional reforms that would give legal equality to blacks.



In 1997, A Russian AN-24 crashed killing 50 people.



Ten years ago (1994):



The space shuttle Columbia returned from a two-week mission.



Published reports said first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had made nearly $100,000 from the commodities market in the late 1970s on an initial investment of only $1,000.



Muslim and Croat leaders signed agreements to create a Bosnian federation.



The U.N. Security Council unanimously condemned the Hebron mosque massacre.



Zsa Zsa Gabor filed for bankruptcy.



Five years ago (1999):



The Kosovar Albanian delegation signed a U.S.-sponsored peace accord following talks in Paris; the Clinton administration warned NATO would act against Serb targets if Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic rejected the agreement.



One year ago (2003):



A jury in Corpus Christi, Texas, cleared Bayer Corp. of liability in a $560 million lawsuit that accused the pharmaceutical giant of ignoring research linking the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol to dozens of deaths.



In Salt Lake City, Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee were charged with aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary in the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was found with them six days earlier.



China's new president, Hu Jintao, announced that his country must deepen reforms and raise living standards of workers and farmers.



Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete.



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Today's Birthdays:



Actor Peter Graves is 78.



Composer John Kander ("Chicago") is 77.



Author John Updike is 72.



Nobel peace laureate and former South African president F.W. de Klerk is 68.



Country singer Charley Pride is 66.



Singer Wilson Pickett is 63.



Actor Kevin Dobson is 61.



Actor Brad Dourif is 54.



Singer Irene Cara is 45.



Actor Thomas Ian Griffith is 42.



Singer James McMurtry is 42.



Singer-actress Vanessa L. Williams is 41.



Olympic gold medal speedskater Bonnie Blair is 40.



Country musician Scott Saunders (Sons of the Desert) is 40.



Rock musician Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) is 38.



Rock singer-musician Miki Berenyi is 37.



Rapper-actress-talk show host Queen Latifah is 34.



Rock musician Stuart Zender is 30.



Singer Devin Lima (LFO) is 27.



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Thought for Today:

"No man has a right in America to treat any other man tolerantly, for tolerance is the assumption of superiority." -

— Wendell Willkie, American politician (1892-1944).

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