Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Spotlight
Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay was cleared of its last inmates at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on this date in 1963. The island was named by the Spanish for its large pelican colony. The US took control of the island in 1851 and eight years later turned it into a military prison. In the early 1930s it became a federal prison for extremely dangerous criminals. Some of the more famous inmates of "The Rock" were Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud.

Quote
"Alcatraz, the federal prison with a name like the blare of a trombone, (is) a black molar in the jawbone of the nation's prison system." – Thomas E. Gaddis, Birdman of Alcatraz

Word of the day
incarcerate: put in jail; some 250 inmates were incarcerated in Alcatraz. (© )

Holiday
vernal equinox

Today's News

• Cyclone Larry: worst Australian storm in decades (story)
• Tony Blair: urged to resign over "cash for favors" (story)
• vitamin B: surprising patent case reaches US Supreme Court (story)

Today's History

• Code Napoleon: first modern legal code of France took effect (1804)
• Africa: journalist Henry Stanley began his trek to locate Scottish missionary/explorer David Livingstone (1871)
• Rick Hansen: set off to circumnavigate the world in his wheelchair, starting and ending in Vancouver (1985)

Today's Birthdays

• Johann Sebastian Bach: composer of the Brandenburg Concertos (1685-1750)
• Benito Juárez: Mexican leader (1806-1872)
• Matthew Broderick: actor, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Producers (44)