DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Wednesday, March 3, the 62nd day of 2021. There are 303 days left in the year.
On this date in:
1791: Congress passed a measure taxing distilled spirits; it was the first internal revenue act in U.S. history.
1845: Florida became the 27th state.
1863: President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure creating the National Academy of Sciences.
1887: Anne Sullivan arrived at the Tuscumbia, Alabama, home of Captain and Mrs. Arthur H. Keller to become the teacher for their deaf-blind 6-year-old daughter, Helen.
1931: “The Star-spangled Banner” became the national anthem of the United States as President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional resolution.
1943: In London’s East End, 173 people died in a crush of bodies at the Bethnal
Green tube station, which was being used as a wartime air raid shelter.
1945: The Allies fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World War II.
1960: Lucille Ball filed for divorce from her husband, Desi Arnaz, a day after they had finished filming the last episode of “The Lucille Ball-desi Arnaz Show.”
1974: A Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashed shortly after takeoff from Orly Airport in Paris, killing all 346 people on board.
1991: Motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video. Twenty-five people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.
1996: Israel declared “total war” against the militant group Hamas after a bus bomb in Jerusalem killed 19 people, including the bomber, the third such suicide attack in eight days.
2001: A plane carrying members of a National Guard engineering crew crashed in heavy rain near Macon, Ga., killing all 21 people on board.
2019: A tornado roared into the small community of Beauregard, Alabama, killing 23 people; it was the nation’s deadliest tornado in nearly six years.
Singer-guitarist Mike Pender of The Searchers is 80. Movie producer-director George Miller (“Mad Max”) is 76. Actor Hattie Winston (“Becker”) is 76. Singer Jennifer Warnes is 74. Actor-director Tim Kazurinsky (“Police Academy” films) is 71. Musician Robyn Hitchcock is 68. Actor Robert Gossett (“Major Crimes,” “The Closer”) is 67.
Guitarist John Lilley of The Hooters is 67. Actor Miranda Richardson is 63. Actor Mary Page Keller (“Ryan’s Hope,” “Another World”) is 60. Actor Laura Harring (“Mulholland Drive,” “Gossip Girl”) is 57. Drummer
Duncan Phillips of Newsboys is 57. Rapperactor Tone Loc is 55. Actor Julie Bowen (“Modern Family”) is 51. Singer
Brett Warren of The Warren Brothers is 50. Actor David Faustino (“Married… With Children”) is 47. Gospel singer Jason Crabb is 44. Singer Ronan Keating of Boyzone is 44. Rapper Lil’ Flip is 40. Actor Jessica Biel is 39. Guitarist Joe “Blower” Garvey of Hinder is 37. Singer Camila Cabello is 24. Actor Thomas Barbusca (“The Mick”) is 18.
For coverage of Tuesday’s Blue Jackets-red Wings game, visit Bluejacketsxtra.com.
Hack-a-shaq is coming to All Elite Wrestling. Shaquille O’neal may again absorb some intentional hits in his tag team match this week. The 7-foot-1 basketball Hall of Famer gets his chance to dish out retribution – maybe a slam, a side headlock or a clothesline – when he steps into the ring for his first match with AEW.
“Oh, I’m winning,” O’neal said. “Guaranteed.”
O’neal says he’s a lifelong wrestling fan and ripped off a list of favorite wrestlers from Tony Atlas and Junkyard Dog to Andre the Giant and Brock Lesnar.
O’neal is set to perform in his first competitive match when he teams in All Elite Wrestling with Jade Cargill in a mixed tag to take on Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday’s episode of “Dynamite.”
The seeds for a feud were set up last
November when Cargill appeared on “Dynamite” and trash-talked Rhodes that O’neal was the real giant-killer of pro wrestling. t