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Today is Thursday, March 14, the 73rd day of 2002. There are 292 days left in the year. 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On March 14, 1743, the first recorded town meeting in America was held, at Faneuil Hall in Boston. 

On this date: 

In 1794, Eli Whitney received a patent for his cotton gin, an invention that revolutionized America’s cotton industry. 

In 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act. 

In 1923, President Harding became the first chief executive to file an income tax report. 

In 1939, the republic of Czechoslovakia was dissolved, opening the way for Nazi occupation. 

In 1943, Aaron Copland’s orchestral work “Fanfare for the Common Man” premiered in New York, with George Szell conducting. 

In 1951, during the Korean War, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul. 

In 1964, a jury in Dallas found Jack Ruby guilty of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy, the previous November. 

In 1965, Israel’s cabinet formally approved establishment of diplomatic relations with West Germany. 

In 1967, the body of President Kennedy was moved from a temporary grave to a permanent memorial site at Arlington National Cemetery. 

In 1991, a British court reversed the convictions of the “Birmingham Six,” who had spent 16 years in prison for an Irish Republican Army bombing, and ordered them released. 

Ten years ago: The Associated Press obtained the names of 22 of 24 of the worst offenders in the check overdraft scandal at the House bank; topping the list were former Rep. Tommy Robinson of Arkansas and Rep. Bob Mrazek of New York, both Democrats. 

Five years ago: Surgeons at Bethesda Naval Medical Center repaired a painful torn knee tendon in President Clinton’s right leg; the injury had been caused by a freak middle-of-the-night stumble at the Florida home of golfer Greg Norman. 

One year ago: Inspectors tightened U.S. defenses against foot-and-mouth disease a day after a case was confirmed in France. Doug Swingley won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska for the third straight year. 

Today’s Birthdays: Former astronaut Frank Borman is 74. Singer Phil Phillips is 71. Actor Michael Caine is 69. Composer-conductor Quincy Jones is 69. Former astronaut Eugene Cernan is 68. Movie director Wolfgang Petersen is 61. Country singer Michael Martin Murphey is 57. Rock musician Walt Parazaider (Chicago) is 57. Actor Steve Kanaly is 56. Comedian Billy Crystal is 54. Country singer Jann Browne is 48. Actor Adrian Zmed is 48. Prince Albert of Monaco is 44. Producer-director-writer Kevin Williamson is 37. Actress Megan Follows is 34. Actor Jake Fogelnest is 23. Actor Chris Klein (“American Pie”) is 23. Actress Kate Maberly is 20. Singer-musician Taylor Hanson (Hanson) is 19.