ALMANAC On this day, June 14

1777 The Second Continental Congress approved the design of the original American flag.

1863 In a Sunday meeting at the Monongahela House, Pittsburgh businessmen and manufacturers, fearing a raid by the Confederate cavalry forces of J.E.B. Stuart, decided to suspend business and set up a defense.

1931 Florenz Ziegfeld’s Follies opened the new season of its 23rd edition at the Nixon Theater; among those featured in the cast were Helen Morgan, Gladys Glad, Ruth Etting, Harry Richman and, in the chorus, two Pittsburgh girls — Zecil Silvonia and Mony Lange.

1967 California Gov. Ronald Reagan signed a bill liberalizing his state’s abortion law.

1993 Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey Sr. received a heart-liver transplant at Presbyterian Hospital.

2017 A rifle-wielding gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., wounding House Whip Steve Scalise and several others; the assailant died in a battle with police.

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 Marla Gibbs, 91. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., 83. Country-rock musician Spooner Oldham, 79. Rock singer Rod Argent (The Zombies; Argent), 77. Former President Donald Trump, 76. Singer Janet Lennon (The Lennon Sisters), 76. Rock musician Barry Melton, 75. Actor Will Patton, 68. Olympic gold medal speed skater Eric Heiden, 64. Jazz musician Marcus Miller, 63. Singer “Boy George” O’Dowd, 61. Rock musician Chris DeGarmo, 59. Actor Traylor Howard, 56. Actor Yasmine Bleeth, 54.

Actor Faizon Love, 54. Actor Stephen Wallem, 54. International Tennis Hall of Famer Steffi Graf, 53. Actor Sullivan Stapleton, 45. Screenwriter Diablo Cody, 44. Classical pianist Lang Lang, 40. Actor Lawrence Saint-Victor, 40. Actor Torrance Coombs, 39. Actor J.R. Martinez, 39. Actor-singer Kevin McHale, 34. Actor Lucy Hale, 33. Pop singer Jesy Nelson (Little Mix), 31. Country singer Joel Crouse, 30. Actor Daryl Sabara, 30. Thought for today: “The flag of the United States has not been created by rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of rights. It has been created by the experience of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life. It is the embodiment, not of a sentiment, but of a history.”

— President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), in an address delivered

on June 14, 1915