On this day, Feb. 14
1876 Inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied separately for patents related to the telephone. (The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled Bell the rightful inventor.)
1923 Pittsburgh’s Dispatch and Leader daily newspapers ceased publication. 1950 Contracts worth $50 million were signed in the mayor’s office for the start of Gateway Center. At the same time, the Urban Redevelopment Authority announced the purchase of the Jones & Laughlin building on Ross Street for use as a civic headquarters. The city also announced the purchase of the Peoples Gas building for $1.1 million for demolition in the Mellon Square Park project.
1967 Aretha Franklin recorded her cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” at Atlantic Records in New York.
1984 Dr. Henry T. Bahnson and Dr. Thomas Starzl perform a simultaneous 16hour liver and heart transplant operation on 6-year-old Stormie Jones at Children’s Hospital.
2018 A gunman identified as a former student opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., killing 17 people in the nation’s deadliest school shooting since the attack in Newtown, Conn., more than five years earlier.
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: TV personality Hugh Downs, 99. Actor Andrew Prine, 84. Country singer Razzy Bailey, 81. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 78. Jazz musician Maceo Parker, 77. Movie director Alan Parker, 76. Journalist Carl Bernstein, 76. Former Sen. Judd Gregg, RN.H., 73. TV personality Pat O’Brien, 72. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller), 72. Cajun singer-musician Michael Doucet (Beausoleil), 69. Actor Ken Wahl, 63. Opera singer Renee Fleming, 61. Actress Meg Tilly, 60. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly, 60. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins, 59. Actress Sakina Jaffey, 58. Actor Enrico Colantoni, 57. Actor Zach Galligan, 56. Actor Valente Rodriguez, 56. Rock musician Ricky Wolking (The Nixons),
54. Former tennis player Manuela Maleeva, 53. Actor Simon Pegg, 50. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit), 48. Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty),
48. Former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe, 48. Actress Danai Gurira, 42. Actor Matt Barr, 36. Actress Stephanie Leonidas, 36. Actor Jake Lacy, 34. Actress Tiffany Thornton, 34. Actor Brett Dier, 30. Actor Freddie Highmore, 28.
Thought for today: “We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading as love.”