Today is Wednesday, March 24, the 83rd day of 2010. There are 282 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On March 24, 1980, one of El Salvador’s most respected Roman Catholic Church leaders, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, was shot to death by a sniper as he celebrated Mass in San Salvador. (Romero was assassinated after urging the Salvadoran military to halt death squads that had killed thousands of suspected guerrillas and leftist opponents of the government.)

On this date

In 1955, the Tennessee Williams play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” opened on Broadway.

In 1958, rock-and-roll singer Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tenn.

In 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil.

Ten years ago

Sig Mickelson, the first president of CBS News, died in San Diego at age 86.

Five years ago

The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal from the parents of Terri Schiavo to have a feeding tube reinserted into the severely brain-damaged woman. Chess legend Bobby Fischer was freed after being detained nine months in Japan for trying to leave the country with an invalid U.S. passport; he boarded a flight to his new home, Iceland.

Today’s Birthdays

Fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is 71. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is 63. Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger is 59. Comedian Louie Anderson is 57. Actress Donna Pescow is 56. Actor Robert Carradine is 56. Actress Kelly LeBrock is 50. TV personality Star Jones is 48. Actress Lara Flynn Boyle is 40. NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 34.

Thought for Today

“The history of almost every civilization furnishes examples of geographical expansion coinciding with deterioration in quality.”

— Arnold Joseph Toynbee, English historian (1889-1975)