Funeral Mass for Baroness Maria Von Trapp in Stowe, Vermont, Tuesday, March 31, 1987. A funeral mass was held to celebrate the life of the Baroness Von Trapp who will be remembered for her daring escape from the Nazis with her family which inspired the book and play, “The Sound of Music”. She was 82. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

Today is Sunday, March 27, the 86th day of 2022. There are 279 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On March 27, 1977, in aviation’s worst disaster, 583 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off in heavy fog, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on an airport runway on the Canary Island of Tenerife.

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Gen. Douglas MacArthur, left, and his chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland leaving the entrance of Malinta Tunnel on the heavily fortified island of Corregidor in Manila Bay, Philippines, March 30, 1942. The general took Sutherland with him to Australia. (AP Photo)

On this date

In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon sighted present-day Florida.

In 1625, Charles I acceded to the English throne upon the death of James I.

In 1794, Congress approved “An Act to provide a Naval Armament” of six armed ships.

In 1912, first lady Helen Herron Taft and the wife of Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Viscountess Chinda, planted the first two of 3,000 cherry trees given to the U.S. as a gift by the mayor of Tokyo.

Queen Elizabeth II walks past honor guard of yeoman warders from the Tower of London after carrying out the annual service of distributing the newly-minted Maundy money at Westminster Abbey in London, March 29, 1956. Walking with the Queen is the Rev. Dr. Don, Dean of Westminster, and behind him is the Duke of Edinburgh. The traditional service is that as many old people the monarch has years shall receive as many pence of the specially minted silver coinage. After the ceremony the Queen and the Duke left for Windsor for a month. (AP Photo)

In 1945, during World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower told reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front had been broken.

In 1964, Alaska was hit by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake (the strongest on record in North America) and tsunamis that together claimed about 130 lives.

In 1968, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (gah-GAH’-rihn), the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961, died when his MiG-15 jet crashed during a routine training flight near Moscow; he was 34.

In 1973, “The Godfather” won the Academy Award for best picture of 1972, but its star, Marlon Brando, refused to accept his Oscar for best actor. Liza Minnelli won best actress for “Cabaret.”

In 1975, construction began on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which was completed two years later.

Stephen Spielberg, director of the very successful movies ?Jaws? and ?Close encounters,? left, holds up a match in front of actor Roy Scheider, center, as fellow actor Richard Dreyfuss looks on during a light moment at the opening night party for Bob Fosse?s new musical ?dancin!? the affair was held at tavern on the green in New York?s central park on Monday, March 27, 1978. Dreyfuss and Scheider both had roles in the movie ?Jaws? and Dreyfuss also had a role in ?close encounters.? (AP Photo/ Richard Drew)

In 1980, 123 workers died when a North Sea floating oil field platform, the Alexander Kielland, capsized during a storm.

In 2019, Facebook said it was extending its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism.

In 2020, the House approved a $2.2 trillion coronavirus rescue package; it was immediately signed by President Donald Trump. The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, a civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, died at 98.

Ten years ago: A JetBlue Airways captain ran through the cabin of a New York-to-Las Vegas flight yelling about religion and terrorists before he was tackled and restrained by passengers. (Clayton Osbon was charged with interference with a flight crew; he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.) Award-winning poet Adrienne Rich, 82, died in Santa Cruz, California. Art critic Hilton Kramer, 84, died in Harpswell, Maine.

Five years ago: U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned so-called “sanctuary cities” they could lose federal money for refusing to cooperate with immigration authorities; city leaders vowed to intensify their fight against the promised crackdown despite the financial risks. NFL owners meeting in Phoenix approved the Oakland Raiders’ move to Las Vegas 31-1; Miami was the lone dissenter.

One year ago: On the deadliest day yet in a crackdown on protests against the February coup in Myanmar, local media said security forces killed at least 114 people, including several children under 16; a U.N. human rights expert accused the junta of committing “mass murder.” A nine-story apartment building in Cairo, Egypt, collapsed, leaving at least 25 people dead.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Julian Glover is 87. Actor Jerry Lacy is 86. Hall of Fame racer Cale Yarborough is 83. Actor-director Austin Pendleton is 82. Actor Michael York is 80. Rock musician Tony Banks (Genesis) is 72. Rock musician Andrew Farriss (INXS) is 63. Jazz musician Dave Koz (kahz) is 59. Movie director Quentin Tarantino is 59. Rock musician Derrick McKenzie (Jamiroquai) is 58. Rock musician Johnny April (Staind) is 57. Actor Talisa Soto is 55. Actor Ben Koldyke is 54. Actor Pauley Perrette is 53. Singer Mariah Carey is 52. Rock musician Brendan Hill (Blues Traveler) is 52. Actor Elizabeth Mitchell is 52. Actor Nathan Fillion is 51. Hip-hop singer Fergie is 47. Jazz musician Tia Fuller is 46. Actor Emily Ann Lloyd is 38. MLB catcher Buster Posey is 35. Actor Brenda Song is 34. Pop singer-songwriter Kimbra is 32. Actor Taylor Atelian is 27. Actor/R&B singer Halle Bailey is 22. Classical crossover singer Amira Willighagen (TV: “Holland’s Got Talent”) is 18.

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MARCH 28

On March 28, 1979, America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurred with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania.

In 1797, Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire received a patent for a washing machine.

In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, died in Washington, D.C., at age 78.

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MARCH 29

On March 29, 2004, President George W. Bush welcomed seven former Soviet-bloc nations (Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonia) into NATO during a White House ceremony.

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln ordered plans for a relief expedition to sail to South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, which was still in the hands of Union forces despite repeated demands by the Confederacy that it be turned over.

In 1867, Britain’s Parliament passed, and Queen Victoria signed, the British North America Act creating the Dominion of Canada, which came into being the following July.

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MARCH 30

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr.; also wounded were White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and a District of Columbia police officer, Thomas Delahanty.

In 1822, Florida became a United States territory.

In 1923, the Cunard liner RMS Laconia became the first passenger ship to circle the globe as it arrived in New York.

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MARCH 31

On March 31, 1991, the Warsaw Pact military alliance came to an end.

In 1931, Notre Dame college football coach Knute Rockne (noot RAHK’-nee), 43, was killed in the crash of a TWA plane in Bazaar, Kansas.

In 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu took office as Israel’s new prime minister after the Knesset approved his government.

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APRIL 1

On April 1, 1972, the first Major League Baseball players’ strike began; it lasted 12 days. Twenty years later, on April 1, 1992, the National Hockey League Players’ Association went on its first-ever strike, which lasted 10 days.

In 1865, during the Civil War, Union forces routed Confederate soldiers in the Battle of Five Forks in Virginia.

In 1891, the Wrigley Co. was founded in Chicago by William Wrigley, Jr.

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APRIL 2

On April 2, 2005, Pope John Paul II died in his Vatican apartment at age 84.

In 1792, Congress passed the Coinage Act, which authorized establishment of the U.S. Mint.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, because of advancing Union forces.

In 1912, the just-completed RMS Titanic left Belfast to begin its sea trials eight days before the start of its ill-fated maiden voyage.