TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, JULY 31, the 213th day of 2020. There are 153 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 1777, during the Revolutionary War, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army.

In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus — the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers — died in Rome.

In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 reached the moon, transmitting pictures back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface.

In 1981, a seven-week-old Major League Baseball strike ended.

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow.

In 2002, a bomb exploded inside a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine people, including five Americans.

In 2014, the death toll from the worst recorded Ebola outbreak in history surpassed 700 in West Africa.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Don Murray is 91. Jazz composer-musician Kenny Burrell is 89. Actresses France Nuyen and Susan Flannery are 81. Singer Lobo, actress Geraldine Chaplin and former movie studio executive Sherry Lansing are 76. Singer Gary Lewis is 75. Actor Lane Davies and actress Susan Wooldridge are 70. Rock singer-musician Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) and actor Dirk Blocker are 63. Actor Wesley Snipes is 58. Country singer Chad Brock and musician Fatboy Slim are 57. Rock musician Jim Corr is 56. Author J.K. Rowling is 55. Actors Dean Cain and Jim TrueFrost are 54. Actress Annie Parisse is 45. Actor Robert Telfer is 43. Country singer-musician Zac Brown is 42. Actor-producer-writer B.J. Novak is 41. Actor Eric Lively is 39. Country singer Blaire Stroud (3 of Hearts) is 37. Singer Shannon Curfman is 35. NHL center Evgeni Malkin is 34. Hip-hop artist Lil Uzi Vert is 26. Actors Reese Hartwig and Rico Rodriguez are 22.