Today’s Highlights

On March 15, 44 B.C., on the “ides of March,” Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators, including Brutus and Cassius, who feared Caesar was working to establish a monarchy.

On this date

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson, addressing a joint session of Congress, called for new legislation to guarantee every American’s right to vote. The result was passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

2012: Convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich entered a federal prison in Colorado, where the 55-year-old Democrat began serving a 14-year sentence for corruption. (He was released in February 2020 after President Donald Trump commuted his sentence; Trump pardoned Blagojevich in February 2025.)

2019: A gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, streaming the massacre live on Facebook. (Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to 51 counts of murder and other charges.)

2022: Russia stepped up its bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, while an estimated 20,000 civilians fled the desperately encircled port city of Mariupol by way of a humanitarian corridor.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Judd Hirsch is 90. Singer Mike Love is 84. Filmmaker David Cronenberg is 82. Musician Sly Stone is 82. Musician Ry Cooder is 78. Actor Frances Conroy is 72. Rock singer Dee Snider (Twisted Sister) is 70. Baseball Hall of Famer Harold Baines is 66. Filmmaker Renny Harlin is 66.