Today in History
Today is Sunday, March 3, the 63rd day of 2024. There are 303 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video.
ON THIS DATE
› 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.
› 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.
› 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: Twenty-five people were killed when a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed while approaching the Colorado Springs airport.
› 2013: Vice President Joe Biden led civil rights leaders and national political figures in a ceremonial crossing of a Selma, Alabama, bridge where voting rights marchers were beaten by law enforcement officers in 1965.
› 2017: The Nintendo Switch, a hybrid game machine that works as both a console at home and a portable tablet on the go, made its debut.
› 2022: Oxy Contin maker Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in a deal intended to staunch a flood of lawsuits.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Singer-musician Mike Pender (The Searchers) is 83. Movie producer-director George Miller is 79. Actor Hattie Winston is 79. Singer-musician Robyn Hitchcock is 71. Actor Robert Gossett is 70. Rock musician John Lilley is 70. Actor Miranda
Richardson is 66. Radio personality Ira Glass is 65. Actor Mary Page Keller is 63. Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 62. Former NFL player and College Football Hall of Famer Herschel Walker is 62. Actor Laura Harring is 60. Rapper-actor Tone Loc is 58. Actor Julie Bowen is 54. Country singer Brett Warren (The Warren Brothers) is 53. Actor David Faustino is 50. Gospel singer Jason Crabb is 47. Singer Ronan Keating (Boyzone) is 47. Rapper Lil’ Flip is
43. Actor Jessica Biel is
42. Rock musician Joe “Blower” Garvey (Hinder) is 40. Musician Brett Hite (Frenship) is 38. Pop singer Camila Cabello is
27. Actor Thomas Barbusca (TV: “The Mick”) is
21. Actor Reylynn Caster is 21.