Today is Friday, March 31, the 90th day of 2023 with 275 to follow.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Pope Pius IV in 1499; French philosopher Rene Descartes in 1596; Pope Benedict XIV in 1675; German composer Johann Sebastian Bach in 1685; Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn in 1732; poet Edward FitzGerald in 1809; boxer Jack Johnson, the first African American to hold the heavyweight title, in 1878; educator/writer Muriel Hazel Wright in 1889; actor/singer Richard Kiley in 1922; United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez in 1927; actor William Daniels in 1927 (age 96); hockey Hall of Fame member Gordie Howe in 1928; fashion designer Liz Claiborne in 1929; author John Jakes in 1932; actor Shirley Jones in 1934 (age 89); actor Richard Chamberlain in 1934 (age 89); trumpeter/bandleader/music entrepreneur Herb Alpert in 1935 (age 88); political commentator Michael Savage in 1942 (age 81); actor Christopher Walken in 1943 (age 80); actor Gabe Kaplan in 1945 (age 78); actor Rhea Perlman in 1948 (age 75); former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 1948 (age 75); actor/former football player Ed Marinaro in 1950 (age 73); guitarist Angus Young in 1955 (age 68); actor Ewan McGregor in 1971 (age 52); actor Kate Micucci in 1980 (age 43); rocker Jack Antonoff in 1984 (age 39).On this date in history:

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In 1889, the Eiffel Tower was dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by its designer, Gustave Eiffel, during the Universal Exhibition of Arts and Manufacturers.

In 1906, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association) was established.

In 1918, daylight saving time went into effect in the United States for the first time.

In 1948, the U.S. Congress passed the Marshall Aid Act, a plan to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe.

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In 1954, the U.S. Air Force Academy was established at Colorado Springs.

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Chinese-occupied Tibet and was granted political asylum in India.

In 1968, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced he wouldn't seek re-election and simultaneously ordered the suspension of U.S. bombing of North Vietnam.

In 1971, U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians in what was called the My Lai Massacre. Public opinion polls and news reports indicated that most Americans believed the sentence was too severe; many said Calley was a scapegoat. His sentence was gradually reduced and he was paroled in 1974.


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In 1991, the Warsaw Pact formally ended, with Soviet commanders surrendering their powers in an agreement between pact members and the Soviet Union.

In 1995, Major League Baseball players went back to work, ending the longest strike in league history. The lockout, which began Aug. 12, 1994, ended the rest of the 1994 season.

In 1998, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia after unrest in the Serbian province of Kosovo turned violent.

In 2005, Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, died 14 days after removal of her feeding tube amid a legal struggle over her fate that reached the White House and Supreme Court.

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In 2007, Pakistan successfully tested its Hataf-II Abdali ballistic missile, believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

In 2017, mudslides killed more than 200 people after heavy rains in Colombia.

In 2019, rapper Nipsey Hussle died in a shooting outside his Los Angeles clothing store.

In 2021, the Biden administration reversed a Trump-era ban on transgender Americans serving in the U.S. military.

A thought for the day: "It's ironic that those who till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables and other foods that fill your tables with abundance have nothing left for themselves." -- American labor leader/Latino civil rights activist Cesar Chavez