On this day, February 24

1879 The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad inaugurated rail traffic between Pittsburgh and Youngstown.

1948 Fritz Reiner announced his resignation after 10 years as conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

1961 The Federal Communications Commission authorized the nation’s first full-scale trial of pay television in Hartford, Conn.

1981 The Pirates organization filed suit for the annulment of its 40-year lease with the Stadium Authority.

1996 Cuba downed two small American planes operated by the group Brothers to the Rescue that it claimed were violating Cuban airspace; all four pilots were killed.

2015 The Justice Department announced that George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in a 2012 confrontation, would not face federal charges.

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin Today’s birthdays: Actor-singer Dominic Chianese, 89. Opera singer-director Renata Scotto, 86. Singer Joanie Sommers, 79. Actress Jenny O’Hara, 78. Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman, IConn., 78. Actor Barry Bostwick, 75. Actor Edward James Olmos, 73. Singer-writer-producer Rupert Holmes, 73. Rock singer-musician George Thorogood, 70. Actress Debra Jo Rupp,

69. Actress Helen Shaver, 69. News anchor Paula Zahn, 64. Baseball Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, 64. Actor Mark Moses,

62. Actress Beth Broderick, 61. Actor Emilio Rivera, 59. Singer Michelle Shocked, 58. Movie director Todd Field, 56. Actor Billy Zane, 54. Actress Bonnie Somerville, 46. Jazz musician Jimmy Greene, 45. Former boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., 43. Actor Wilson Bethel, 36. Actor Alexander Koch, 32. Actor Daniel Kaluuya (Film: “Get Out”), 31. Rapper-actor O’Shea Jackson Jr., 29.

Thought for today: “It is my feeling that Time ripens all things; with Time all things are revealed; Time is the father of truth.”