Milestones

Ten years ago: Maria von Trapp, whose life inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music,” died in Morrisville, Vt., at age 82.

Five years ago: Democrats Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown clashed over Brown’s flat-tax proposal, with Clinton charging the plan would hurt the poor, and Brown accusing Clinton of inventing “another big lie.”

One year ago: Congress passed the line-item veto, giving the president power to cut government spending by scrapping specific programs. The space shuttle Atlantis astronauts said goodbye to the crew of Russia’s space station Mir and then flew away, leaving Shannon Lucid behind for a five-month stay in orbit.