On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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New Jersey Nets and guard Jason Kidd, who will be free agent after this season, prepare to face San Antonio Spurs, which might be interested in signing Kidd; photo (M)
Former Pres Bill Clinton and his opponent in 1996 presidential election, Bob Dole, are teaming up to revive commentary segment 'Point-Counterpoint' on 60 Minutes; Clinton and Dole have contracted to provide 10 debate segments, beginning March 9; commitment does not extend beyond end of television season in May; executive producer Don Hewitt says segment will be called 'Clinton/Dole' one week and 'Dole/Clinton' next week; Clinton and Dole comment; photo (M)
Personal computer makers are counting on expanding needs of consumers to stem two years of declining sales; for two decades, sales of PC's were driven by succession of innovations and new operating systems; now, high-peformance applications are transforming computer use and requiring more bells and whistles as well as increased capacity; photos; graphs show ups and downs in market (L)
Supreme Court votes, 5 to 4, to uphold California's 'three-strikes' law, rejecting constitutional challenges to sentences of 25 years without parole for man who stole three golf clubs from pro shop and 50 years without parole for another man for stealing children's videotapes from store; both men had previous convictions for string of mostly minor property offenses that qualify as prior strikes under California's recidivist sentencing law, which was adopted by state's voters in 1994 referendum; Justice Sandra Day OConnor writes that neither of challenged sentences is so grossly disproportionate as to violate Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; she speaks for herself and for Chief Justice William H Rehnquist and Justice Anthony M Kennedy on constitutional analysis; Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who provided fourth and fifth votes for result, refuse to sign O'Connor opinion because in their view, Eighth Amendment is addressed only to types of punishment, not length of sentences; four dissenters in both cases claim court's test for disproportionality had been met; cite Leandro Andrade's 50-year sentence for stealing $150 of videotapes, saying if this is not grossly disproporationate, 'the principle has no meaning'; other plaintiff in case is Gary A Ewing; photos (M)
Georgia University does not renew contract of basketball assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr, after former player Tony Cole accused Harrick Jr, coach Jim Harrick Sr and others of giving him gifts (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of March 5, 2003, covering March 6, 2003.
R. Kelly
50 Cent
Norah Jones
Dixie Chicks
Kid Rock
2003Millicent Simmonds, American actress[†]
Millicent Simmonds is a deaf American actress who starred in the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place and its 2020 sequel A Quiet Place Part II. Her breakout role was in the 2017 drama film Wonderstruck. For Wonderstruck and A Quiet Place, she was nominated for several awards for best youth performance.
2003Air Algérie Flight 6289 crashes at the Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport in Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing 102 out of the 103 people on board.[†]
Air Algérie Flight 6289 (AH6289) was an Algerian domestic passenger flight from Tamanrasset to the nation's capital of Algiers with a stopover in Ghardaïa, operated by Algerian national airline Air Algérie. On 6 March 2003, the aircraft operating the flight, a Boeing 737-2T4, crashed near the Trans-Sahara Highway shortly after taking off from Tamanrasset's Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport, killing all but one of the 103 people on board. At the time of the accident, it was the deadliest aviation disaster on Algerian soil.
In 2003, the world population was approximately 6,420,361,634 people[†]