Today In History

Today is Wednesday, March 21, the 80th day of 2018. There are 285 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1925: Tennessee Gov. Austin Peay signed the Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of the Theory of Evolution in public schools. (Tennessee repealed the law in 1967.)

ON THIS DATE

› 1788: Fire broke out in New Orleans on Good Friday, destroying 856 out of more than 1,100 structures; one death was reported.

› 1935: Persia officially changed its name to Iran.

› 1952: The Moondog Coronation Ball, considered the first rock ’n’ roll concert, took place at Cleveland Arena.

› 1963: The Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates and closed at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

› 1972: The Supreme Court, in Dunn v. Blumstein, ruled that states may not require at least a year’s residency for voting eligibility.

› 1981: Michael Donald, a black teenager in Mobile, Alabama, was abducted, tortured and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. (A lawsuit brought by Donald’s mother, Beulah Mae Donald, later resulted in a landmark judgment that bankrupted one Klan organization.)

› 2006: The social media website Twitter was established with the sending of the first “tweet” by co-founder Jack Dorsey, who wrote: “just setting up my twttr.”

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actress Kathleen Widdoes is 79. Songwriter Chip Taylor (“Wild Thing”) is 78. Folk-pop singer-musician Keith Potger (The Seekers) is

77. Actress Marie-Christine Barrault is 74. Actor Timothy Dalton is 72. Singer Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry) is 72. Rhythm and blues singer Russell Thompkins Jr. is

67. Comedy writer-performer Brad Hall is 60. Actress Sabrina LeBeauf is 60. Actor Gary Oldman is 60. Rock musician Jonas “Joker” Berggren (Ace of Base) is 51. Rock MC Maxim (Prodigy) is 51. Rock musician Andrew Copeland (Sister Hazel) is 50. Hip-hop DJ Premier (Gang Starr) is

49. Actress Laura Allen is 44. Rapper-TV personality Kevin Federline is 40. Actress Sonequa Martin-Green (TV: “The Walking Dead”) is 33. Actor Scott Eastwood is

32. Actor Forrest Wheeler is 14.